Winter Wonderland Is Coming
by remembernaoko
Summary: Sansa is nominated for "King's Landing Prom Queen of 2013" and Arya has to attend, whether she likes it or not. If prom is supposed to be fun, then why is it such a drag for everyone involved?
1. Chapter 1

Summary:

Sansa is nominated for "King's Landing Prom Queen of 2013" and Arya has to attend, whether she likes it or not. If prom is supposed to be fun, then why is it such a drag for everyone involved?

Notes:  
I've changed a lot of character ages around in this fic. Sansa is a seventeen-year-old senior and so are Podrick, Harrold, and Gendry. Arya is a fifteen-year-old freshman. I trust you'll be able to figure out the rest.  
Lastly, I own nothing.  
Update 10/22/13: I deleted this fic in a fit of insecurity earlier this year. Sorry to anyone who gave kudos or subscribed, but I do intend to finish it. Upon rereading, I found that it wasn't bad. This first chapter is just a combination of every chapter that had been written prior to deletion so it's waaaay longer than any chapter that will likely come after this. Thanks to anyone that reads. I appreciate it.

**_"winter wonderland is coming"_**

* * *

_Prom_

The word alone made Arya roll her eyes on instinct.

"Oh, Sansa, it'll be amazing this year. What did they do last year? Do you remember?" asked Jeyne Poole loudly even though she was sitting right across the table from her best friend, Sansa.

Sansa scrunched up her tiny nose and said, "_A Night in Braavos. _Gods, it was so tacky. Of course, I went with Loras and it was the worst. They had all these hideous decorations and the food was disgusting. I swear the whole place reeked of seafood. The committee should have at least booked a yacht if they were going to do a sea theme."

Jeyne nodded her head in agreement, "Oh my gods, I know. The committee is perfect this year, though. We've decided to go with a 'Winter Wonderland' theme since winter is coming. It might even snow! Ugh, think about it. You could be the queen of winter."

"_Winter Wonderland"…that's not tacky at all. Sounds like a lot of fake snow, winter flowers, and ice sculptures of stupid things like stags and lions._

Arya sat at the kitchen counter eating her cereal, but she couldn't stop herself from listening to the conversation going on behind where she was sitting. Ever since Sansa was nominated for queen a few weeks past, it was all anyone in the house could talk about. Seven hells, Sansa and their mother, Catelyn, even ordered a gown of genuine Myrish lace from Myr. The whole spectacle only served to remind Arya about how no one cared that much when her middle school fencing team went to the Crownlands regionals last year.

_Except Jon._

Jon was able to come down from his stint in the military and bought Arya a new pocketknife as a gift for making it to regionals. Her team may have lost, but she was happy to make it to make it so far as a competitive fencer.

"I still can't believe Margaery was nominated after she said that she wouldn't run for queen," Jeyne sighed.

"I'm sure it was one of her cousins. I don't think she would do that to me, and she looked really surprised when they called her name in the student announcements," said Sansa.

"You don't really believe that, do you? You're too nice and only think the best of people, but Marg totally set it up. Everyone knows she's desperate to be '_The Queen'_. She's such a snake, or a garden snake, rather."

Arya turned from the counter to face the girls.

"Isn't she your friend too, Jeyne?"

The two girls at the table turned their attention to Arya.

Jeyne gave her the usual look of disdain, and sneered, "Mind your own business, Arya Horseface."

Arya's eyes flashed at the insult and Sansa turned to her friend, "Jeyne, I have told you not to say that enough times."

Jeyne took a deep breath and, without looking at Arya, said, "Sorry about that."

"Fuck off, Jeyne" responded Arya as she hopped off the tall stool and walked out of the kitchen.

_She's such a fucking idiot. I hate her. I hate Sansa for being friends with her. All they talk about are the most boring subjects like prom. They're such stupid losers. I hate them._

Arya stomped up the stairs to her bedroom and slammed the door shut. She plopped herself on her bed and laid her head on a pillow. She wouldn't cry for this. No, not for this.

There were a few moments of silence before she rolled over on her back and reached for the phone inside her jacket pocket.

She missed a text while she was eating her breakfast.

**Mycah: Sorry, Arya. I can't go to the record store today. Maybe tomorrow. My dad says I have to take a shift at the shop while he gets his car fixed. Ask Hot Pie or Gendry.**

_Idiot! He promised. I can't ask Hot Pie. His mom never lets him do anything on weekends and Gendry…I can't ask him now._

**Arya: Fine. I'll see you later.**

A response came back in less than a minute.

**Mycah: Don't be mad.**

**Arya: I'm not mad. Bye.**

Arya sighed and turned over to grab her laptop from the side of her bed.

_I didn't even want to go the markets anyway._

Then there was a knock in the door.

Arya decided to ignore the knock.

"Arya, it's me, Sansa. Please, open the door."

Arya scoffed. "No thanks."

"Jeyne's left home already. I have to talk to you. _It's important_!" pleaded Sansa.

Despite her lingering desire to never speak to Sansa again, Arya pushed herself off the bed and opened the door slightly.

Sansa pushed it all the way open and moved gracefully towards a plush, dark chair next to Arya's desk and sat down.

Arya closed the door behind her and then leaned against it, arms folded across her chest.

"Well, what's so important?" Arya spat out.

Sansa pursed her lips at Arya's bluntness, but then carried on with what she wanted to say.

"I'm sorry about Jeyne. She just doesn't know when to stop sometimes."

"She's a right bitch—"

"Stop it, Arya. You give her the same attitude!"

"I didn't call her a name!"

"I know that and that's why I didn't ask _you_ to apologize. Look, I'm not here to talk about that, alright? I have something important to talk about," said Sansa, taking a deep breath at the end.

"What is it?"

"Prom is in a month and Starks are supposed to support each other in all our endeavors—"

"You didn't support me when I was at regionals."

Sansa arched her eyebrow, "You know that I was spending the semester with Aunt Lysa at the Vale. I couldn't have made it here. Besides, you never even said anything until afterwards. I had to find out about it on Facebook. There were just pictures of you with your teammates and Jon. You know, you never tell anyone what you really want from them and then you get angry when they can't read your mind. It's _exhausting_, Arya," Arya stayed quiet at her sister's words, biting the chipped blue polish on her nail, "so, I'm just trying to put forward what I would like from you. What we all want from you. Of course, I'm nominated for prom queen and I want my family to be there. Mom and Dad are chaperoning and I would like you to be there as well."

"But I'm a freshman."

"Freshman can go to prom. You just have to be invited by an upperclassman."

Arya shook her head and said, "Well, I don't know anyone going, so it's no use."

Sansa clapped her hands. "That's where you're wrong again. My friend, Podrick, doesn't have a date yet. I haven't asked him if he'd take you, but I know he bought his tickets already."

_Pod? I thought he was half in love with Sansa._

"Pod? That dude who comes over to do study work for your math homework with you?"

Sansa nodded her head.

_At least he's not too obnoxious. And I suppose he's not hideous._

"What if I don't want to go?"

At that, Sansa did that look where she made her eyes look like the saddest blue pools that ever existed

"Fine, then. I'll go if he agrees. You owe me."

Sansa gave a squeak of delight and stood up from the chair. She walked over towards Arya and bent down to embrace her sister in a hug.

Arya patted her back awkwardly.

"You won't regret it, I promise. You're lucky, even. Not every freshman gets to go to prom."

"Yeah, I bet."

"I already ordered my dress from Myr weeks ago, but we, Mom and I, thought we could go buy you a dress next Saturday at one of the shops near the Red Keep. Be ready and don't make plans. I have to call Podrick," Sansa broke the embrace and smiled down at her sister.

Arya gave her sister a half smile before Sansa crossed to the side and twisted the door knob.

"Wait, Sansa. Who are you going with?"

Sansa gave one of her dazzling, perfectly perfect white smiles and answered with, "Harrold Hardyng. The guy I met at school when I was at the Vale."

As soon as Sansa left the room, Arya placed her head inside of her palms and whispered, "Fuck me."

* * *

Monday morning was always shit in Arya's opinion. She slumped out of her bed and put on her usual ensemble of a combat boots, black jeans, a white t-shirt, and a black hoodie.

"Arya, hurry up! I can't wait forever. This is why you should get up early. Jeyne and I are going to put up my posters around the school this morning. We can't be late!" called Sansa from downstairs.

Arya groaned and yelled back, "I know. I'm just looking for my fucking backpack!"

"Arya, watch your language!" called out Arya and Sansa's mother, Catelyn.

She couldn't help but roll her eyes as she got on her knees to search for the missing backpack under the bed.

"There it is. How the fuck did it get down here?" muttered Arya, reaching her hand underneath the bed to pull out the ratty, old, gray (once white) backpack.

Arya quickly ran downstairs with the backpack in her hand only to find a very exasperated Catelyn and Sansa sitting on one of the living room sofas. Bran was sitting in his power chair, but he didn't seem to pay attention to the scene as he was engaged with something on his phone.

"I'm sorry. We can go now."

Sansa rolled her eyes and said, "Finally."

Catelyn and Sansa both stood up from the sofa while Arya went to push the handles on Bran's power chair.

"You don't have to always do that. It can run on its own, you know?" said Bran.

"I want to, stupid."

"Suit yourself."

They followed the same routine most mornings except Sansa was extra antsy to leave to this morning. She hopped right in the front passenger seat while texting, an impressive feat, and left Catelyn to secure Bran into the van. Arya soon took the seat next to him and pulled her phone out of her jean pocket. She hadn't bothered to check any alerts since last night.

There were four missed messages from Hot Pie that were all questions about today's math quiz, some link to a website from Lommy, a rant from Mycah about some "blonde-haired dick" who came into the shop last night, and a message from Gendry.

**Gendry: hey. you haven't texted me in a while. you left your ipod at my house on friday so i brought it to school. i'll be where i usually am in the morning.**

Arya bit her lip and tried to figure out what to say.

**Arya: Alright. I've just been busy.**

**Gendry: i figured. whatever. see you when you get here.**

_Is he angry? He's so stupid. Well, it's not like he was a big talker before…before what happened._

"I asked mom to drop us off first. Is that okay, Bran?" Sansa asked over her shoulder from the front of the car.

Bran looked up and said, "That's fine. I'll just text Meera and Jojen to meet me in front of the school a little later."

Sansa smiled and turned her head back to tell their mother more details about her prom queen election campaign.

Arya looked over at Bran and made a gagging face and Bran fought to stifle his chuckle.

"Who else is running?" asked Catelyn.

"There's only three other girls, Daenerys Targaryen, Myrcella Baratheon, and _Margaery Tyrell_," said Sansa, straining to hide her annoyance on the last name.

"My, that sounds like stiff competition. I thought Doran Martell's daughter was running as well."

"No, Arianne already won Homecoming Queen, so that took her out of the race."

_Utterly fascinating…_

Sansa continued to go on and on about prom details until they finally arrived at the entrance of King's Landing High School.

Arya grabbed her backpack from the seat and said her goodbyes to everyone in the van before rushing out of the vehicle. She walked her usual direction before hearing the clicking of heels coming fast from behind.

_Not again._

Arya stopped and turned to see Sansa in front of her. She pulled a lock of her red hair behind her ear and said, "You walk _really_ fast. Nevermind, I forgot to tell you that Podrick agreed to take you to prom."

"Yay," Arya said dryly.

Sansa pursed her mouth and cocked her head to the side.

"At least pretend to be excited."

"I am."

"Then do a better job. Look, I have to go meet up with Jeyne, but maybe you can become better acquainted with Podrick at lunch. You usually hang out at that dingy space between the art and the auto shop buildings, don't you?"

"Yeah, sometimes."

"Perhaps we will drop by today. Goodbye, Arry."

"Don't call me that!" Arya yelled out as her sister clicked away towards the senior quad.

Arya swung on her backpack and made her way to the freshman lockers. She pulled out her biology book.

_I wonder if Gendry finished the homework. Fuck, I have to see Gendry. This is going to be so awkward. I'm such an idiot. Why did I kiss him? Seniors don't like baby freshman. Anyone with half a brain would know that._

She met Gendry earlier this semester in their biology course. Even if he wasn't the only senior in the course, he would've been easy to spot. No one else in the class was 6'4 or had a beard. She did recognize him from the times she had seen him around the auto shop building and, in typical Arya fashion, she took the seat right next to him.

There was a lot to learn about Gendry. First off, he failed a semester of biology when he was in ninth grade because his mother passed away from breast cancer and he couldn't be bothered to attend most of his classes. Thus, he had to retake the course, in addition to a few other classes, as a senior if he wanted to graduate on time.

He didn't really talk much at first and Arya thought he regarded her as a pest until he started to come around. It turned out that he liked to joke sometimes, when he wasn't being a grouch or stubborn.

Arya knew she liked him and not in the way she liked other boys. She found herself thinking about him when they weren't around and sometimes she'd sit next to him near under the trees or on the benches next to the auto shop building. They ended up becoming good friends, but a part of Arya wished it would turn into something more.

_And I had to fuck it all up._

The last Friday afternoon, Arya invited herself over to Gendry's home by tagging along with him as he took his route home. He lived in the seedier parts of King's Landing with his Uncle Tobho, and he was barely within the district lines to attend King's Landing High School.

There was nothing unusual about the visit, and they had simply been arguing and listening to music until Arya asked him how he was ever on the wrestling team in the first place. He jokingly stretched out his arm and flexed his muscles to prove his case. Arya managed not to gulp, but she didn't bother to take her eyes away. After that, Arya shoved him to the side and somehow they ended up on the floor of his bedroom, Arya pinned between his legs. When Gendry realized the position they were in, he stopped laughing. Without thinking, Arya raised herself up by the elbows and pressed her lips up against his.

The kiss lasted two or three seconds before Gendry jumped up and started babbling on about how he was too old for Arya and how sorry he was. Arya felt her face flush deeply with embarrassment. Instead of waiting to hear more reasons why he couldn't kiss her, she grabbed her backpack from the floor, leaving her iPod behind, and hurried out of the apartment. She ran down the stairs of the apartment complex as fast as she could and called a cab to pick her up near the entrance of a convenience store when she realized that she had no idea how to get back to the suburbs on her own.

That's why she hadn't texted him in two days when they used to text constantly.

_He probably likes older girls with big tits and long hair like Bella or really smart, cool girls like Jeyne Heddle. Gods, I'm so stupid. Now I have to see him. What do I say to him? Hi, I didn't mean to kiss you at all. Let's just forget everything. You're not even my type! Har har. This is so fucking awful._

The area between the art and the auto shop buildings was not very populated this morning. Arya saw Mycah and Hot Pie wave at her to sit at them in their usual bench, but Arya flipped them off. They yelled something back at her, but she ignored them. Instead, she searched for Gendry.

She saw him sitting underneath the tree, right past where Thoros and Beric, upperclassmen, were covertly trying to smoke weed.

She walked over to him with purpose, making sure to look as cool as possible. As if the kiss never happened. Just as she was coming close to him, she saw a figure plop down right next to him. It was Jeyne Heddle. She had a bunch of books and papers in hand, and started talking to Gendry. Arya instantly felt a pang of jealousy, but she was determined not to lose her confidence.

Arya stood straight as she approached them and said, "Hi. I don't mean to bother you guys, but I'm here for my iPod."

Gendry focused his attention away from Jeyne to look at Arya's face for a second before reaching into the pocket of his black leather jacket.

"Sure, here," said Gendry, standing up to hand Arya her IPod.

Arya took it without saying anything and turned around before she heard Jeyne Heddle start talking again.

"Like I said, these girls are actually the worst. Really, who would vote for Sansa Stark?"

That stopped Arya right in her walk and she turned around to face Jeyne and Gendry.

"Why _wouldn't _anyone vote for Sansa Stark?" she asked sharply.

Arya saw Gendry make a face at Jeyne but she didn't pay any attention to him.

"To be frank, she's kind of a snob. The same goes for Margaery Tyrell, and people will only vote for Myrcella because her grandfather is filthy rich and her father is our drunken baboon of a governor. Dany is probably the best choice."

Arya decided to finally lose her cool and spat out, "You're wrong! Sansa would be an okay queen, I guess. She's not even a snob. Well, not like as bad as she used to be. She's just really prim. I bet you haven't even spoken to her before!"

Jeyne gave her a condescending look and said cooly,"Give it a rest, please. Also, why do you even care? Aren't you a freshman?"

Arya bit on her lip.

Gendry sighed while rubbing his temples and said, "Arya is Sansa's younger sister, and you already know she's a freshman, Jeyne."

She clicked her tongue against her teeth and replied with, "Must've forgotten. However, I suppose it doesn't even matter since you can't vote for queen, can you? I mean, only prom attendees can vote."

"How do you know?" asked Arya.

"I'm on the student body council. _That's_ how I know."

"Well, I am going to prom," Arya said, her eyes flaring with dislike for Jeyne Heddle.

Gendry's blue eyes snapped wide open to look at Arya and he asked, "Who invited you?"

He seemed almost jealous, but Arya decided to give him a glare as well, and answered, "Pod—I mean, Podrick Payne. He's a senior and he asked me. Obviously, I took him up on the offer. Not that it's any of your business. Guess I'll see you there, Jeyne. And bye, Gendry. Thanks for giving me my iPod back."

Gendry looked like he wanted to ask another question, but Arya turned on her heel, moving her head away from the smell emitting from Thoros' and Beric's recreational activities. Eventually, she sat down next to Hot Pie on the bench where he sat with Mycah and he proceeded to hound her for answers to their practice problems for math class.

_I suppose going to prom wasn't a completely useless idea._

* * *

After the confrontation she was with Gendry and Jeyne in the morning, Arya decided to avoid Gendry by sitting on the other side of the classroom during biology. Instead of taking her usual seat across from Gendry, she sat next to these annoying boys that were always talking about dissecting frogs.

Despite her aloofness, she knew that she kind of, sort of missed Gendry, but she was also still quite angry at him.

_Stupid bull_

Arya was angry that he would sit with Jeyne Heddle, that he rejected her kiss, and that he thought what she did was any of his business. Not once during class did she bother to look over at him.

At lunch, Arya bought her food with Hot Pie and sat the table bench where they always sat in the space near the auto shop and art buildings. Hot Pie wanted to wait on Mycah, but Arya insisted that he could "go fuck himself." As soon she took out her sandwich from the wrapping, she noticed a shadow hovering behind her on the pavement. Startled, she jumped up to face the figure, and she realized it was Podrick Payne. He jumped back as well and looked just as startled as she at her sudden movement.

"You're Arya, aren't you? Sansa's sister?" he choked out, eyes wide.

Arya inspected him up and down. Podrick was a thicker boy of average height with a round face, dark hair, and soft, dark eyes. She had only seen him in passing before during his study sessions. He was good-looking enough, but his clothes were a bit too proper and stiff for her taste. Arya didn't know many high school boys that wore pea coats or perfectly ironed jeans with shiny dress shoes.

_Maybe to the Sept. But not to school._

"That's me. You don't have to say who you are. You're Podrick, Sansa's friend, and my date for prom, apparently."

He nodded with a shy smile. "Sansa wanted to come introduce us, but she had some prom things to do with Jeyne in the ASB office. She told me that this was where you usually hang out. And you can call me 'Pod' if you like. Most people do."

"I already do."

Pod didn't say anything else for a few seconds, he just shuffled his feet, and Arya wondered what she should do to relieve the tension.

"Do you want to have lunch?" she asked.

Pod released a breath he seemed to have been holding in and said, "That sounds okay for now. But I didn't bring any food, though. I have to be somewhere else not too long from now."

Arya shrugged her shoulders. "Not a problem. You can just watch me eat."

"Would your friend mind?" said Pod, nodding his head towards Hot Pie.

"Who cares? I don't. Come on, sit," answered Arya, pointing at the seat across from her on the table bench.

Pod walked over and sat down. He held his hands together and seemed quite nervous.

"Who are you?" asked Hot Pie curiously while still chewing a piece of his burrito.

"I'm Pod, and you are?"

"My name is Hot Pie. Glad to make your acquaintance."

Arya rolled her eyes.

Pod looked confused and, furrowing his eyebrows, asked, "Why are you called 'Hot Pie'?"

Arya answered, "Because when we were in middle school, he got it into his thick head that he could take on this bet to eat twenty hot pies during lunch."

"Did he?" Pod asked.

"No, he vomited all over the grass after the twelfth one. It was really fucking disgusting, and the nickname just kind of stuck around."

Hot Pie shook his head at the story and simply said, "Not my finest hour."

"That doesn't say much about your life, Hot Pie," Arya countered.

Hot Pie shrugged her words off and asked, "Do you have some money? I want to go buy some chips."

"Are you kidding? We just got some food," responded Arya.

Pod pulled out his tidy leather wallet and, handing the a few bills to Hot Pie, said, "Here you go."

Hot Pie happily reached over to collect the money and hopped off the seat towards the school cafeteria.

"Thanks, Paul!" Hot Pie yelled out.

"You're welcome. And the name is 'Pod', not 'Paul'!"

Then, out of the corner of her eye, Arya saw Gendry walking with Jeyne Heddle and his other friend, Harwin, towards the tree where they usually sat at lunchtime.

Pod noticed her focus shift elsewhere and he turned to look in the direction of her gaze.

"Are those your friends?" asked Pod as he moved his back to face Arya.

Arya's attention snapped back to Pod and she sharply answered, "No."

His cheeks went a faint shade of red, "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I was only asking."

Arya waved her hand, "Whatever. Anyway, I have some questions to ask you."

Pod sat up straight. "You do?"

Arya nodded her head and sucked in her left cheek before saying, "No shit. If we're going to prom together, then I'd like to know a few basic things. First thing that comes to mind is, well, why did you agree to take me?"

Pod shifted uncomfortably in seat at the question. "I agreed to ask you because I needed a date and Sana said that you needed one too. She said she really wanted you to go, but you could only go if an upperclassman invited you."

Arya mulled over his words, taking a bite out of her sandwich.

"Why didn't you already have a date? Most people have someone to go with long before now," she asked, still chewing on her food.

Pod's face went a violent shade of red and he twiddled his thumbs together. Arya wondered if he might start a fire with the friction. His attention focused to his feet that he could see under the table bench and he muttered something that Arya couldn't quite understand.

"Excuse me? I didn't catch that."

Pod picked up his head, closed his eyes, and took deep breath.

"I was going to ask Sansa."

"_Sansa?_ Well, really, I can't say I'm surprised. You were always making eyes at her during the few times I passed by the two of you studying."

Pod face turned an even deeper hue of red as he said, "I don't make _eyes_ at her."

Arya rolled her eyes, "Okay, you don't make _eyes _at her. I'm trying to say that it's kind of obvious that you like her. Don't be embarrassed or anything. Like, I think half of the school is in love with Sansa."

Pod's face took on a slightly dreamy quality. "That she is. I don't even know what I was thinking. I should have known that she would have a date by now. Except, the thing is she never mentioned this Harrold guy until two weeks ago. Maybe If I had asked her when I bought the tickets and hadn't waited so long…I suppose we weren't really as close as I thought."

Arya almost felt bad for the guy as she sipped on the straw of her iced tea while Pod stared at his feet in a sudden moment of self-pity.

"If it makes you feel better, Harrold sounds like a total douche. Like, I think he's this champion horse rider and I think also he's supposed to be an heir to all this land and stuff. Seriously, how fucking dull can you get?"

Podrick did not appear to be consoled by this information.

"It was nice getting to know you better, Arya, but I have to go. My history teacher wanted to see me about one of papers during lunch. Do you have my number?" said Pod, standing up from his seat to leave.

Arya shook her head, watching him check the buttons on his pea coat, and answered, "No, but I could get it from Sansa later."

He gave a small smile, the dejection still evident on his face. "We can talk more about our arrangements for prom when you do. Goodbye, Arya."

"Bye, Pod," said Arya as Pod walked away from the bench.

Arya's attention went back to her food, but she felt a strange feeling of being watched. Her eyes searched the area, and, for a second, her eyes met Gendry's. Gendry instantly looked away and Arya did the same.

"No Mycah?" asked Hot Pie as he arrived back from the cafeteria with a new bag of Cheetos in hand.

Arya turned to face her friend on her left side and responded, "No Mycah."

* * *

"Arya, _please_ try it on."

"No, it's purple and it has sparkles all over the top. And the top is way too low," Arya repeated, making a disgusted face at the dress Sansa was holding up outside of the dressing room.

Sansa looked like she was going to give a retort, but she turned to her mother sitting in a waiting chair instead.

She held at the dress for Catelyn to see and said, "Mom, is this purple?" Cat shook her head and Sansa turned back to Arya, "This is _lavender_ and the sparkles are so pretty. Don't roll your eyes, I mean it. And the cut is not too low. You have boobs now. Don't you want to accentuate them?"

Arya's pale cheeks went pink. "No."

Sansa rolled her eyes. "What am I saying? Of course not. That's why you're always wearing those dreadful baggy hoodies."

"Shut up! That's not why I wear them!"

Catelyn tucked her phone inside her navy coat, and stood up. "That's enough, Arya. You don't have to scream in the middle of the shop. Let me see the dress you've already tried on."

Arya pulled the dressing room curtain aside and stepped out in the simple black dress she picked out.

"What do you think?"

Catelyn moved her palm over her mouth and then back to her purse before saying, "I don't think the dress is formal enough for an occasion like prom, sweetling."

"But_ lavender_ dresses with sparkles are?" asked Arya, her brows furrowed in annoyance.

Catelyn pursed her lips in that way that reminded Arya so much of Sansa. "Don't be difficult. There are many other beautiful options in this shop. I'm certain you would be able to find a suitable choice if truly tried to find a proper dress."

"Dress shopping, are we?" said a friendly voice from behind Catelyn.

The voice came from Margaery Tyrell accompanied by a handsome man with a walking stick who looked to be in his mid or late twenties.

Catelyn and Sansa turned to face her.

"Oh, how are you, Margaery? Are you looking for a prom gown?" asked Catelyn politely.

Margaery smiled. "I'm doing well, Mrs. Stark. And, no, I told Sansa that I found a gown in Highgarden ages ago. They have the most beautiful dresses over there. To be truthful, I'm here because I thought I'd drop by and look for a dress for the parties after prom," her attention then turned from Catelyn to Arya, "I'm not sure if that really suits your coloring. _Here_, I thought this dress might be a little too short and tight for me, but you're so tiny."

Margaery stepped forward past Catelyn and Sansa, and handed Arya a short silvery gray dress.

The neckline of the dress was not as low as the one Sansa picked out and, best of all, Arya noted that there were no sparkles in sight.

"Thanks. I'll, um, try it on." Arya took the dress and stepped back into the dressing room, pulling the curtain aside. She took off the black dress and set it aside on the little bench near the dressing room mirror.

As she slipped on the silvery gray dress, Arya heard Margaery say, "I'm so sorry. How rude of me, I completely forgot to introduce everyone. This is my older brother, Willas, and, Willas; this is Catelyn Stark and my good friend, Sansa, her daughter."

"How wonderful to meet you, Mrs. Stark, and you as well, Sansa. I've heard many things about you from Margaery," said the voice that Arya assumed to be Willas.

"The pleasure is mine, Willas. I actually know your parents, and they're fine people. Your grandmother, Olenna, was here for the a while back and she was quite charming. I hope I'm that lively when I grow older."

Arya looked at herself in the mirror. The dress Margaery had given her was pretty enough and she didn't feel like a complete priss in it. She wondered what she would look like if Sansa or her mother made her put makeup on or pin her hair back.

_Would I look pretty?_

She pulled her side bangs to the side of her head and turned to view her profile in the mirror.

_Still short and skinny and not pretty. The only things I have are these stupid tits and they're not even that big. Who even fucking cares? I'm not Sansa or Jeyne Poole. I'm not like them._

"Yes, Grandmother Olenna has always been a firecracker."

"She so is. I visited Margaery when she was here at the end of summer and she told me I looked like a pomegranate," said Sansa, her voice trailing in a soft giggle.

_Oh gods, she's giggling. Sansa must think he's so handsome. She made that stupid giggle whenever she used to see that asshole, Joffrey._

Arya figured she might as well show the rest of the party her dress and pulled the curtains aside.

Margaery beamed at her the moment she stepped out and, twirling her finger, said, "Spin, please. Let us see what it looks like from all angles."

Feeling absolutely ridiculous, Arya slowly moved in a circle while the others critiqued the dress.

"The dress looks amazing. I knew it would look good on you. I have such impeccable taste. Is this for a special occasion?" asked Margaery.

"Yeah, I'm going to prom."

Margaery's eyes flickered at Sansa's for a moment before turning back to Arya. "As a freshman? Aren't you lucky?_ I _didn't even go until I was a sophomore with my ex-boyfriend, Renly. Who is the lucky guy?"

"Pod Payne," Arya answered sheepishly.

Once again, Margaery's eyes flashed to Sansa. "The name sounds familiar. I think we've met before. I should go try some of these dresses on, but it was lovely seeing you all. Give my best to Mr. Stark."

Catelyn nodded. "I certainly will."

Willas made a small bow and smiled. "I'm glad to have met you all today."

The Tyrell siblings then walked down towards a dressing room at the end of the shop.

"Do you guys like the dress?"

Sansa sighed and said, "That's probably the best we're going to get out of you. Wrap it up."

* * *

Arya slumped into her bedroom with her shopping bags in hand.

She threw them across the floor, the new heels and clutch slipping out, and rolled herself into bed.

_I will never go shopping with them again._

Her legs felt sore from all the walking they did and she needed some time away from Sansa and her mother's endless comments about her split ends or dirty fingernails. She shut her eyes for some peace, but was disturbed by the sound of her door opening. Arya opened one of her eyelids and saw Sansa searching through one of her shopping bags.

"What are you doing?"

Sansa looked up at Arya on the bed. "I can't find the new blouse that I bought. Ah, here it is," she raised the dress in the air, "I must have left in one of your bags on accident. Harrold made a surprise visit and asked me out last night. He's picking me up in fifteen minutes, so I thought I need to get ready fast. If only we hadn't spent so much time arguing about what dress to get you. I might have had time to curl my hair."

"Great. Have fun." Arya muttered, stuffing her head into her pillow.

"And you have fun being such a negative toad." Sansa shut the door a little too roughly.

_She's so fucking annoying._

Suddenly, Arya felt the phone in her back jean pocket vibrate. She reached out to grab it from her pocket and looked at the caller. It was Gendry. They hadn't spoken since last Monday morning.

_Fuck._

"Gendry?" she said into the phone.

"Yes, it's me. What, uh, what are you doing?"

Arya thought he sounded nervous. "Nothing, really. I just got home from shopping with my mom and Sansa."

"I bet you liked that," his voice sounded amused.

"Seven hells, no. It sucked. I had to try on all these hideous, sparkly dresses and these high heels that hurt to walk in. Sansa had a good laugh about it."

"What did you need all that for?"

Arya bit her lip. "Prom is three weeks away."

An awkward silence followed, but Gendry broke it soon enough. "You know, I got a just got a job."

"Did you? Let me guess, it's some macho job that you'll have to do shirtless and sweaty."

"Close."

"Okay, then a mechanic or a body builder or maybe even a bullfighter," Gendry only laughed at her suggestions, "admit it, Waters, is that why they call you ' the Bull'?"

"Nah, I think I'll keep it a secret for now. Don't wanna risk you coming over and bugging the shit out of me while I'm on the job."

Arya rolled her eyes. "Don't flatter yourself, honestly."

"You wound me, m'lady."

"I told you not to me call me that."

"Too easy. I couldn't resist. Hey, Arya, I have to hang up now to get ready for work, but maybe I can call you after I'm off. Are you doing anything later?"

Arya paused for a moment. "No, I'm not doing anything."

"Good. I'll call you later."

"Later is good."

Arya ended the call and held the phone to her chest, feeling giddy and stupid over a simple phone call.

Her bedroom door opened once again and Sansa popped her head though the opening. "I'm going, but I think the Reeds are going to come over and pick up Meera pretty soon. Mom's taking a nap and Dad's still at work. Please, please tell Meera to go outside when they come and greet them. It'll only take a sec, I promise. Harrold's already here. Bye, Arya."

Before Arya could object, the door closed and Arya heard the sounds of Sansa's heels run down the hall and then the stairs.

Arya stood up from her bed and walked over to the window in her room that was above the driveway. She pulled the curtains aside and saw Sansa hurry over towards a car that looked expensive. Arya tried to see if she could determine what kind of car it was, but the dark sky made it hard to tell.

As the car drove off, Arya noticed a minivan coming towards the house.

_Mr. Reed._

The car stopped in front of the driveway and started honking. Sighing, Arya walked out of her room, and went downstairs to Bran's room.

She opened the door without knocking. "Meera, I think your—"

Meera's face moved quickly away from Bran's and she jumped off from where she was sitting on Bran's bed.

Arya's widened as she viewed both Bran and Meera suddenly flush with embarrassment.

"I think your parents are outside. I don't know if you guys could hear the honking, but I guess not."

"Right, sorry. I'll go now," said Meera, grabbing her olive green messenger bag from the floor and rushing past Arya without saying anything.

Arya stood there in silence with Bran, who refused to look her in the eye, until they heard the front door being shut.

Arya raised her eyebrows. "Bran!"

"What?" Bran said sharply, still avoiding her gaze by becoming incredibly focused on his video game controller.

"Don't pretend like I didn't see you and Meera _kissing_."

"We didn't kiss! We didn't do anything, alright? Meera was only—"

Arya walked over and tumbled onto Bran's bed while he sat near the edge of the bed on his power chair.

"She was trying to kiss you. Do you like her? Is she your girlfriend? Aren't you guys are like twelve? Is that even legal?"

Bran narrowed his eyes at her. "No, I'm thirteen and she turned fourteen last month. And she's not my girlfriend. We're just friends."

"Well, she's really affectionate for just being your friend."

Bran had to smile at that. "You_ would_ enjoy my humiliation."

Arya feigned an innocent face and said, "What are older sisters for?"

"Please, don't say anything about this to anybody else. I don't want people to think we're, you know, boyfriend and girlfriend, when she might not even feel like that."

Arya's face twisted in confusion. "Why wouldn't she feel the same?"

Bran's focus turned back to the different buttons of the controller. "That's obvious, isn't it?"

"Don't be stupid. Listen, I still got one of my fencing swords and if you want, I'll be to stick with her the pointy end."

"I appreciate the offer, but you shouldn't say things like that, Arya."

Arya rolled her eyes. "I'm joking. What are you even doing? You want to watch these scary movies I downloaded?"

Bran shook his head. "I have to work on my science project. I told you about it, the one about how the body and brain function when we dream. The portion of the day that I allotted to fun was already spent playing games with Meera."

"You're no fun," Arya said before sticking her tongue out, "I guess I'll leave you to this project about bedwetting or whatever."

Arya left Bran's room and walked back upstairs to her own bedroom. She found herself wondering when Gendry would get off his work. What precisely did he mean by "later"?

A restless feeling started to run through her being. Arya hated waiting, being patient.

So, she pulled out her phone. The last message she received was from Pod after Sansa put his number in her phone during their shopping trip. She wondered what he was doing and her fingers began to type out a message.

**Arya: Hi, Pod. It's Arya. Text me back when you can.**

A few minutes passed before there was a response.

**Pod: Hello. I wasn't expecting a text from you. Is Sansa okay?**

_Always Sansa._

**Arya: She's fine. I just was wondering what you were up to.**

**Pod: Oh. That's good to know. I was worried for a moment. I'm not up to much. I hardly left work about 20 minutes ago or so.**

_Does everyone have a job once they're a senior?_

**Arya: Huh. Where do you work?**

**Pod: I intern for Tyrion Lannister at his political consulting firm. I don't get paid, but it's a good opportunity for someone my age and it looked great on my university applications.**

**Arya: Huh. Listen, what are you doing tonight?**

**Pod: Oh, nothing important. Why?**

**Arya: Because I'm bored and we're friends now. I thought you'd might like to go out and do something. I'd rather not go to prom with a perfect stranger. Do you have a car?**

**Pod: Yes, I have a car. I suppose doing an activity together would be a nice idea. Where do you want to go?**

**Arya: Um. I was thinking the wharf. Be here in 20 minutes if you can.**

**Pod: Wait, do you even have permission?**

**Arya: Leave that to me. 20 minutes. Be here.**

Arya shoved her phone into her back pocket and observed herself in the small vanity mirror Catelyn bought against Arya's wishes years ago. She smoothed her hair down, but didn't see anything wrong with her outfit. The only thing she added was a thick woolen scarf from her drawers.

After she finished inspecting herself, Arya walked downstairs only to be met with her father walking into the house from the foyer, looking tired with his briefcase in hand.

Ned Stark arched his eyebrows and gave Arya a stern look. "And where do you think you're going?"

Arya jumped on the tips of her toes and pleaded, "Please, Dad, I just want to the wharf, and today is Saturday, and Sansa got to go out with Harrold, and Mom will never let me go, and I didn't do anything last week, and this morning all they made me do was put on stupid dresses."

Ned stroked his forehead with his free hand. "Arya, slow down. Who do you want to go to the wharf with? Your mother has already objected to you with going out with Mycah or Lommy since the last time when you three were caught throwing rotten eggs at the Sandor Clegane's car. You're lucky he only called the police and didn't deal with the matter himself."

_He deserved it._

"I'm not going with Mycah or Lommy. I'm going with Pod. You know him. He comes and studies with Sansa sometimes."

"The Payne boy? I've personally never met him before, but your mother has informed me that he's a nice, young man. You can go, but I have to meet him first and you're curfew is at ten."

Arya's mouth dropped. "That's not fair! Sansa gets to stay out until two."

"Sansa is older than you, and she has never been brought back home by policeman. Don't push your luck, Arya."

Arya bit her lip. "Fine. I'll come back home before ten."

Ned's face relaxed at her words. "When will your friend be arriving?"

"Not too long from now."

"I'll be in my study. Call me when he arrives."

Ned walked towards his study near the kitchens and Arya sat on the small seat by the foyer. Fifteen minutes or so passed before Arya heard a hesitant knock from the door. She jumped off the chair, and opened the door.

Pod was standing, shivering in King's Landing's chilly night air. His hands were stuffed in gloves and he wore a heavy striped scarf over his pea coat.

"Are you that cold?"

"I—I'll never get used to the cold, I'm afraid. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, but hold on. My dad wants to talk to you," said Arya, waving him into the house.

Pod followed her direction and stepped inside. "Oh, that doesn't sound terrifying at all."

Arya closed the behind them, saying, "He's not as bad as people think he is. Come on, follow me. He's in his study."

Arya walked ahead of Pod and led him to her father's study. Ned had his reading glasses on and was poring over some documents when the two teenagers stepped inside. His head looked up at his guests.

"Dad, this is Pod. Pod, this is my dad."

Ned stood up from his desk, appearing intimidating as ever, and extended his hand to s hake Pod's mitten covered hand as he walked over to where he stood.

"It's an honor to meet you, sir. Sansa always talks about you and my boss, Tyrion Lannister, says you're likely the only honest politician in all of Westeros."

Ned did not appear impressed. "Does he?"

Pod nodded, his cheeks turning red. Arya could see his left foot start to tap the floor.

"I'll expect Arya back home before ten. Do I have your word, Podrick Payne?"

"Yes, sir, I mean, Mr. Stark."

Arya pulled Pod by the shoulder and said, "Uh, I think we'll be going now. We're on such a tight curfew, after all. Bye, Dad."

"Goodbye, Mr. Stark."

Ned's face remained cold as a northern winter. "Podrick, do you mind waiting outside while I say something to my daughter?"

"No, Mr. Stark. I'll, I'll just wait outside," Pod choked out as he walked outside of Ned's study, closing the door on his way out.

"The boy scares easily, doesn't he?" Ned laughed as he stepped forward and pulled Arya into a hug, leaving a peck on the top of her head.

"Does that mean I can stay out later?" she muttered into his chest.

Ned pulled back. "That only means he'll bend to your horrible plans more easily. You'll be back home by ten, Arya. Stay safe."

Arya smiled. "I will."

Pod and Arya walked onto the wharf after spending thirty minutes looking for a parking space.

Though they had only been there for five minutes, Arya decided to help herself to a mini lemoncake from one of the outdoor venders with Pod's money.

"This lemoncake is so fuckin' good. You sure you don' want some?" Arya asked, still chewing on some of the cake.

Pod shook his head. "No, thank you. I'm not much for sweets."

"Sansa _loves_ lemoncakes. Okay, what do you like to eat?"

Pod shrugged his shoulders. "I like cheeseburgers. There's a burger place all the way down that I like. You want to go check it out?"

"Are you talking about the Crossroads Burger Inn? My friend Lommy told me they have good food even though he swears he saw a rat running out from the kitchen. So, yeah, I'll go."

Pod's eyes narrowed. "I don't think that rat part is true."

The wharf was one of Arya's favorite places in King's Landing. She'd been here many times since the Starks moved down from the north when Governor Baratheon appointed him to Jon Arryn's position after Arryn suddenly died. Arya loved the outside vendors, the funny shops, and all the work done by the shipping boats. There were always different people from places as far off as the Summer Isles or Braavos or Meereen. The excitement and possibilities for adventure are what Arya loved best.

"Here we are," Pod said as they reached the end of the wharf.

The Crossroads Burger Inn was not a very noticeable restaurant. It was a bit dingy and looked like it had attempted to be a family restaurant at some point. In fact, Arya had never even been to this spot in all the times she had been to the wharf.

Pod held the door open for her as they walked in. There was a pool table in the middle of the restaurant with a juke box on the end. Arya noticed that there weren't many patrons. She also noted that there were maybe two couples inside the different booths on the side, but she couldn't see them closely.

"Look, this booth up here is open," Pod said as he pointed towards a booth on the left of the restaurant's entrance.

The two took their seats and waited for a server to come over. Arya looked over the menus that were left on the table. There were only a few choices, but they didn't look too bad in Arya's opinion.

_The double beef and cheese one, maybe. Lommy said if you played your cards right, then they would serve you a beer as a minor. I wonder if Pod'll mind if I ask…_

"Arya Stark?" said a familiar girl's voice.

Arya looked up from her menu and saw Jeyne Heddle in uniform with a pen and pad in hand. She had a big grin on her face as her eyes moved from Arya to Pod.

"Hi, Jeyne. I didn't know you worked here."

"My family owns this place."

"Do they? That's…cool."

Jeyne's eyes moved toward Pod. "And you're Pod? I have you some of our courses. Mr. Lemoncloak is always teasing you in English."

Pod's cheeks went red as usual. "He's only trying to be funny. And I remember you, Jeyne."

Jeyne's voice was unusually chipper when she asked, "So, do you two know what you want to order?"

"I'll take the number one and a vanilla milkshake. Arya, what would you like?"

Arya's eyes flickered back to the menu. "Give me the number three and a ginger ale."

Jeyne wrote the order down on her pad. "I'll be back with the beverages."

As Jeyne left towards the back of the restaurant's counter, Arya began to fiddle around her phone.

"Oh Gods, Harrold, you're so funny!"

_Sansa_

Arya leaned out of her seat and raised her head to survey the restaurant. Towards the right end, she finally saw a flash of her sister's red hair in a booth. Immediately, Arya sank back into her seat.

Noticing the startled look on Arya's face, Pod asked her, "Is everything alright?"

"Uh, yeah. Only, not really. Sansa's here."

"She's here? Where? Should we go say 'hi' to her?" Pod asked, his head straining to see around the restaurant.

"She's at the end on the right. I think she's with Harrold."

Pod slumped back into his seat. "Oh, I see."

Arya noticed that Pod's face took on a slight shade of green. She wondered if there was anything she could say to make him feel better, but nothing came to mind. The pair sat in silence while they waited.

"Please take out the drinks to the table in front!" yelled out a voice from the back of the restaurant.

Arya's eyes turned from Pod's sad f ace to the front counter. She saw a figure behind the counter come out with a tray of beverages.

As the figure came closer, Arya realized the person coming towards their booth was Gendry.

A sweaty, greasy Gendry wearing a tank top.

_Fucking hell_

Arya briefly wondered if she could escape to the restrooms before he came, but it was too late.

"Hi, Gendry. You work here?" Arya asked as he arrived at their table, his eyes wide with shock.

"I usually work in the back with the grill, but, right now, I'm serving drinks for Jeyne." His voice was stiff as his eyes moved from Arya to Pod.

Pod seemed to sense the tension and broke out of his silence. "Are you friends?"

"You could say that. I don't think we've met. I'm Gendry Waters," said Gendry, his voice unwavering from its bite.

Pod gulped. "Great t-to meet you. I'm Podrick Payne, but everyone calls me 'Pod'."

Gendry nodded his head in response.

Arya didn't know what to say. The situation felt so awkward.

"Do you mind giving us our drinks?" Arya asked, instantly regretting her choice of words.

"As m'lady wishes," said Gendry before setting the milkshake and the ginger ale from the tray on the table.

He gave Arya one last look before heading back behind the restaurant's counter.

Jeyne brought the rest of their order not too long afterwards, flashing her toothy smile. Arya didn't feel like talking much, and Pod must have sensed this because he barely said a word. When Pod took the last sip of his vanilla milkshake, Arya suggested that they leave.

_I want to go home and pretend this whole day never happened. I'm so stupid._

"If that's what you want," said Pod, leaving a tip on the table.

The two stood up to leave, but a voice called out to them as they were before the entrance.

"Arya! Podrick!" Sansa called out.

Arya groaned. "Let's go greet my favorite sister and her boyfriend."

Sansa was smiling prettily when the two arrived at her booth.

"Harrold, this is my sister, Arya, and our friend, Pod," Sansa said to the boy sitting on the opposite side of the table booth.

This was the first time Arya had ever seen Harrold. He was lean and handsome with dark blonde hair and brilliant brown eyes.

He smiled brightly at Arya and Pod. "So, we finally meet. Sansa's always going on about her wild little sister. You can call me 'Harry', by the way. Sansa is far too formal."

"Is that so? Well, you're 'Harry' to me from now on," said Arya who noticed that Pod seemed to have frozen up completely at her side, "Harry, it was cool to meet you and all, but I think that my friend isn't feeling okay. So, we'll be leaving. Right now. Come on, Pod."

It looked as though Sansa wanted to say something, but Arya pulled Pod by the wrist. She led them outside of the restaurant without bothering to say goodbye to Sansa or Harry.

The cold breeze seemed to have awoken Pod from his numb state and he shook his head.

"I'm sorry," said Arya as she stared out into the ocean waves.

_I mean it this time._

Gendry never called Arya after work and he didn't reply to the texts she sent him.

* * *

_I feel like shit, and I don't want to go to school._

The van stopped in the usual spot of school that Catelyn dropped off Sansa and Arya. This morning Arya didn't exit the vehicle with the same enthusiasm that Sansa did.

Her walk into the campus felt like she had walked for yeares. The only things that took Arya out of her self-pity were the insane amount of prom decorations and posters lining up the school. Signs with simple slogans like VOTE FOR MYRCELLA BARATHEON were on nearly every building, and she saw Margaery Tyrell, along with her cousins, handing out treats to those that passed. Arya had always heard that prom season was known to become quite competitive during the last few weeks, but she always thought it was an exaggeration.

_Seven hells, I'm not ready for this._

* * *

"Attention, class, attention! " Ms. Mordane commanded with an attendance sheet in hand. This morning the biology class had been moved from their usual classroom to the school's lab facilities.

Arya sighed and pocketed her phone as she leaned against the wall. Biology was not her favorite course, and she certainly didn't want to spend the morning dissecting pigs To Arya's dread, the class would be placed in groups of three. Arya hoped that she would be placed with her friend, Lommy, who actually bothered to come to school this morning, but Ms. Mordane would likely place her in a group with some of the better students in class.

"Let's see…Arya, you will be partnered up with Lommy and, who doesn't have a partner yet? Oh, yes, Gendry. You three can go sit at the corner on the very left."

A groan escaped Arya's mouth as she turned to look at her partners. Lommy was slumped near the lab's entrance, having arrived less than ten minutes before his name was called out. Gendry, on the other hand, was right in front of the teacher's desk. Feeling slightly nauseated, Arya pushed herself off the wall and walked over to the left corner of the lab without bothering to greet her partners. She slung her backpack off of her shoulder and kicked it underneath the laboratory table.

"What the fuck are we even doing?" asked Lommy as he made his way from the entrance, looking tired and confused. Arya noticed he didn't even have a piece of paper or a pencil on him.

"Dissecting pigs, Greenhands," Gendry said from behind Lommy, towering over the scrawny blonde boy.

"Shit, Gendry. Fuckin' scared me," said Lommy as he jumped to the side, allowing Gendry to move in between him and Arya. "I haven't been to class in forever, though. So, maybe I'll just do the easy parts."

Gendry placed his backpack underneath the table, and set down his notebook and textbook.

"That'll probably be for the best. The directions on the board say that we'll need some gloves, goggles, and paper towels. The rest of the tools are already here. You mind getting those, Lommy? Seems easy enough." Arya noticed that Gendry didn't bother to speak to her or even look at her directly.

"No problem, man. I'll be back." Lommy walked over to where the supplies were kept in the lab's closet, and Arya felt an uncomfortable silence fall between her and Gendry.

"This pig smells really awful."

"Yeah," Gendry grunted.

Arya's eyes narrowed. "You don't have to be such a dick."

He finally turned his head to look down at her, his face contorted in anger and annoyance. "How am I being a dick?"

"Because you are. I'm trying to talk to you and you're being rude."

"Don't talk to me about being rude, Arya."

"Then why are you acting like this? You're so stupid," she sneered.

"First, stop saying that I'm stupid, and we're not going to talk about whatever is going on in class. You want to talk; we'll settle this after school," countered Gendry, his hands clutching on of one of the tools.

Arya opened her mouth to respond, but Lommy arrived with the supplies before she could think of a response.

"I think we should call him Babe," said Lommy, poking at the pig, oblivious to the two awkward partners at his sides.

* * *

Arya waited one of the cafeteria's lunch lines to pay for her lunch of pizza and a coke. Sansa always said she should eat a more nutritional, balanced meal, but she always had lemon cakes as snacks, so what did she know?

A finger tapped her shoulder. "Excuse me!"

Arya turned her hand to see two pretty, stylish girls with flyers in their hands. They were both smiling. She assumed they were upperclassmen as Arya had never seen them before.

"I'm Irri," said the first girl with copper skin and long, straight hair.

"I'm Jhiqui," said the second girl with dark skin and curly hair.

"Nice to meet you, Irri, and you, too, Jhiqui. Can I help you with something? The line should be going as soon as that one kid finally finds his lunch money…"

Irri nodded her head. "Yes, it's known that you, Arya Stark, are going to the prom with Podrick Payne, and we thought you'd like this flyer to a prom after party thrown by Dany Targaryen."

Jhiqui pulled out one of the flyers and pushed into Arya's hand. The black flyer had the background of a red dragon with the party details written in white ink. Even Arya knew enough about society life and the old houses to know that the dragon was the Targaryen's sigil.

"Uh, well, I'm probably going to vote for my sister."

"_Obviously._ We're not asking you to vote for Dany. This is just a party invitation. Everyone we know that is going to prom will get one," explained Jhiqui.

Arya's eyebrows furrowed. "Everyone?"

"Yes, everyone. Dany is so nice and giving. She doesn't believe in this high school pecking order separating everyone. It's known," said Irri.

"It's known," Jhiqui echoed.

Arya shrugged. "Well, thanks. I'll tell my date about it. Um, the line is going so..."

"No problem," said Irri, pulling Jhiqui by the wrist and leading her to some other people in line.

As Arya walked out of the cafeteria, she heard a noise that sounded like her name being called. Sure enough, she saw Sansa's bouncing head of auburn hair, her arm gesturing for her to come over towards the senior pavilion.

_Fucking hells, what do they want?_

When Arya arrived at the pavilion, she saw Sansa sitting at a table bench with her friends, Jeyne Poole, Mya Stone, and Shae.

"What's going on?" Arya asked.

Sansa smiled and tapped the table bench. "Sit. We have to ask you a question."

Arya fought the urge to roll her eyes as she took a seat next to Mya, her dark hair and blue eyes briefly reminded Arya of Gendry, but she quickly banished the thought as Sansa began to speak.

"So, a little spider told us that you were speaking to Irri and Jhiqui in the cafeteria."

Arya raised one of her eyebrows. "That just happened. How do you even know about that?"

"I saw you three while I was leaving the cafeteria," Jeyne explained, rolling her eyes in exaggeration.

Arya's eyes narrowed. "It's none of your business what I do."

"Oh, but it is. Daenerys is Sansa's competition. They're clearly talking to _you_ only because they want to annoy Sansa."

"That's not true. They just wanted to invite me to their after party," Arya snarled.

"After party?" Jeyne's mouth gaped and she turned to give Sansa a look of shock.

Mya sighed. "I don't know why you're so surprised, Jeyne. Lots of people throw parties after prom."

Jeyne gave Mya a look of disdain. "Not like the Targaryens, everyone how crazy they are. Also, we already know that Marg has been planning this huge thing for months. Her parents are obsessed with her getting the crown. It's like a fact that every past King's Landing Prom Queen has gone on to be successful. Becoming queen is worth more than winning some cheap tiara."

"I wouldn't mind a tiara," muttered Shae.

Jeyne ignored her, and looked about to make another comment.

Arya had enough. "Wow, Jeyne, one would think you're in the race. Except no one would ever vote for you because you're so annoying."

Jeyne's eyes glared and she looked like she was about to say something before Sansa stepped in. "That's enough, Arya. We don't need to ask any more questions. Thanks for coming over."

"Sure, any time." Without hesitation, Arya stood up to gather her lunch, and left the pavilion.

* * *

The school bell's last ring of the day made Arya's heart pound. Gendry had texted her earlier to meet him in front of the school by the statue of Baelor.

She found him sitting at the statue's feet while he played with some game on his phone.

"Hey, stupid."

Gendry stared up at Arya. "I thought I told you not to be calling me stupid anymore."

"You thought I'd listen?"

He smiled, though it looked as it pained him to do so. "Not really."

"Where do you want to go?" asked Arya.

"There's a park down from here. You want to go and have a sit? Feed the ducks?"

"_Feed the ducks?_ Yeah, sounds like a great time. That's what all the cool kids do, right?"

Gendry stood up from the statue, and he gestured for Arya to follow him as he began to walk.

The park was filled with trees losing their foliage, and there were cool ponds where little ducks swam. Arya teased a couple of the ducks as Gendry found an empty bench for them to sit on. There were other students from King's Landing High walking around, but Arya didn't recognize anyone she knew. Actually, it appeared as though most of the people she saw were walking around in pairs, like couples. Unconsciously, Arya felt a little blush at the thought of anyone thinking that she and Gendry might be a couple too.

"I like your jacket. I've never seen you wear it before," Gendry said as he sat down on a bench, eyeing the brown, corduroy jacket that Arya was wearing.

Arya took the seat next to him, and pointed at the jacket she had on. "This? It's Sansa's. I only put it on because I forgot to do laundry. Hot Pie said I look like an acorn because it matches my hair."

"A nice acorn, though."

Arya felt her cheeks burn even further.

"Shut up."

Gendry didn't say anything back. The two stared at the swimming ducks until Gendry broke the silence.

"Is that kid your boyfriend?"

Arya looked up at him, but he refused to stare back. "Hot Pie?"

"No, I meant the other one. The one you were with at the Crossroads with."

"Pod?"

Gendry shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, Pod, I forgot."

"_No_, seven hells, no. He's just a friend."

Gendry's eyes were pointed when he finally met her gaze. "You two seem awfully close for just being friends. Come on, lunch, prom, and dinner dates. Seems like it's more than friendship."

"Well, it's not. He's friends with Sansa, and he needed a date. We thought it would be good to get to know each other. And what does it even matter? I go out with Lommy and Hot Pie and Mycah all the time. You never had a problem before."

"It's different," Gendry muttered, his jaw becoming stiff.

Arya's eyes were wide. "How is it different?"

"It is."

Arya exhaled sharply before thinking of another point. "Also, also, you have lunch with Jeyne and you see her during the weekends. I don't think she's your girlfriend."

Gendry shook his head. "That's not the same. Jeyne has been my friend for since I started at this school, and we see each other on weekends because we work together. I'm not dating her."

"Well, I'm not dating Podrick."

"Are you sure about that?" His voice ringed with doubt.

"Yes, I'm sure, and I don't even understand why you care if I had a boyfriend."

"I care because…you're my friend."

Another silence came.

_Of course. He only cares because I'm his friend. Isn't that fucking fantastic? It's not like he wants to be my boyfriend._

"Terrific. Is that all you wanted to talk about?"

"No, there are other things to talk about."

"Like what?" Arya snapped.

"Like what happened when you were at my apartment."

"I don't want to talk about that." Arya crossed her arms over her chest, uncomfortable at the thought of rehashing her humiliation, his rejection.

"Arya, don't be like that," sighed Gendry.

"I'm not being like anything. You're just being stupid. If this is what you want to talk about, then I'm going home. Actually, I think Sansa and Jeyne Poole should be done with their fashion design group meeting, or whatever it is, soon. I don't want to miss my ride. See you later, Gendry."

Arya moved to stand up from the seat, but she stopped at Gendry's voice. "Wait, Arya. I wanted to let you know that I'm going to prom."

She turned to see his face. "You are? But you said prom was stupid."

"It is stupid. I'm going with Jeyne because she needs a date."

Arya nodded her head. "That's cool. Have fun. I'm sure you two will have a fucking fantastic time. "

"_Wait_."

Arya started to walk away, but then she felt Gendry grab her wrist and spin her back to him. Before the words "fuck off" came out of her mouth, she felt his mouth crash on hers. His large free hand reached down to grab her waist, lifting her clear off the ground. Arya shook her wrist out of his limp grip, and wound her arms around his neck. Embarrassingly, she squeaked when his tongue entered her mouth.

Arya's first kiss, which she didn't like counting as her first kiss, with Ned Dayne at summer camp didn't involve tongue, and he kissed a bit of her nose and upper lip on accident at first. Hot Pie, Lommy, and Mycah had never even kissed girls, so they didn't have conversations about what to do when someone stuck their tongue in your mouth. She might have picked up some wisdom from Sansa and Jeyne if they hadn't kicked her out of the room anytime the subject of boys came up (_As if I even care what they do with stupid boys_).

In fact, she wasn't sure what to do at this point and that felt unnerving. Arya pushed him back when his tongue started licking the roof of her mouth. Gendry's eyes, which had been closed, snapped open as she wiggled out of his arms and landed on her feet.

"I—have to go. Bye," Arya blurted out before running off.

* * *

"Get ready, Arya. Please, this is important to me," Sansa said as she sorted through the clothes hanging in Arya's closet.

"Why? I'm already wearing clothes," Arya replied as she laid on her bed, watching videos on her laptop.

"You're wearing a t-shirt with a pizza stain and those faded jeans. I want everyone to make a good impression. This is the first time Harrold is meeting all of you. He's going to be here in thirty minutes."

Arya rolled her eyes. "I already met Harry."

"Not truly. You and Pod left so suddenly when we all ran into each other at that burger place. By the way, I didn't even know you two were becoming such fast friends," said Sansa, her voice lowering at the last sentence.

"Figured it wouldn't hurt. Why? You don't like us hanging out?"

Sansa shook her head in a way that seemed exaggerated to Arya.

_Even by Sansa standards._

"Oh, no, that's not it at all. I'm glad that you two enjoy each other's…_company_. So, how do you feel about this red dress?" Sansa asked as she pulled out a short red dress with a ruffled neckline.

"No."

"Why not?"

"That's a dress that you and mom bought without asking me, and I never liked it."

"This dress is lovely. Look at the ruffles on the neckline. You'd look so darling in this, Arya. I wish it was suitable for me, but the red is too much. I'd look like a pomegranate. Also, the skirt might be too short for my frame. You're so petite; you never have to worry about that."

_How simply darling and lovely and petite. She sounds like Margaery Tyrell._

Arya sighed. "If I wear that, will you just go?"

Sansa's eyes narrowed, her lips pursed. "You don't have to be rude, but yes. Wear this and I will go because I don't have all this time to get you ready."

Arya pointed at the edge of her bed. "Leave it on the bed, then."

Sansa dropped the dress on the indicated spot, and walked out of the room without saying another word. Arya shut her laptop, and crawled over to the edge of her bed.

_I guess it's sort of, kind of pretty, but I'll look so stupid in it. Who cares? I only have to wear it for like an hour or two._

Arya quickly took off her clothes, not spotting the pizza stain that Sansa spoke of, and slipped the dress on. She moved in the direction of her vanity, and examined her appearance.

_Not too bad. This dress makes my boobs look bigger. Stupid ruffles. I wish it wasn't so short, too._

Arya tried to pull the dress skirt further down her legs, but it wouldn't budge.

_Oh, fuck it._

Sighing, Arya moved to her closet, where she dug out a pair of dingy ballet flats. She knew Sansa wouldn't like them, but they would do for now.

Sansa and Catelyn were running in and out of the kitchen as Arya took her seat between Bran and Rickon. Arya noticed he was wearing the lavender dress shirt that Sansa gave him for his birthday complete with a black bowtie. She tried to stifle her laughter, but that effort was a complete failure.

"Shut up," muttered Bran.

Arya choked back some the laughs. "What? I didn't say anything. Although I will say that you look simply dashing and dapper in this attire, Brandon."

Bran's face turned red.

"And me?" piped up Rickon from her left.

Arya looked him up and down. "Yeah, you're simply dashing and dapper, too, Rickon. I like these little wolves on your dress shirt."

Rickon gave one of his signature goofy smiles.

Bran shook his head. "You have no room to judge, Arya. You look like a big red bow in that dress. I didn't even think you wore dresses," he moved his chair back to look underneath the table, "and you have the whitest chicken legs I've ever seen."

"Be quiet, stupid," Arya said as she attempted to tug the skirt down her thighs again.

"Arya, don't call your brother names," Catelyn said as she set the dinner plates.

"He started it."

"We all know that's not true."

Arya made a face as the doorbell began to ring, Sansa skipping out of the kitchen with her apron still on with Catelyn following.

"Hello, Mrs. Stark! I'm glad to finally have an opportunity meet you," ringed Harry's cheerful voice from the foyer.

Instantly, Bran and Arya turned to mirror a look of amusement on their faces.

"The pleasure is mine, Harrold. We have heard so much about you from Sansa."

"All good, I hope!"

"But what else? Oh, dear, my husband is in his study, buried in work. I'll call him to dinner right now. For now, I believe Sansa will be the gracious host, and escort you to the table."

Sansa and Harry entered the dining room arm in arm. "Harrold, these are my siblings, Bran, Rickon, and—"

"Arya! We just met."

"Hey, Harry," she said, taking a sip from a glass of water that was placed next to her plate.

Harry slid arm away from Sansa and went over to ruffle Rickon's hair. "So this is the Rickon? I heard you were a wildling, but I didn't believe it myself until right now."

Rickon didn't look amused by the attention, but Harry paid no notice. Next up, he moved on to Bran, offering his hand out for a handshake. "And I was most eager to meet you, Bran. Though, I have to say it looks like Sansa dressed you. Don't turn red; the same thing happened to me when she was at the Eyrie."

Ned and Catelyn walked into the room a moment later. Ned looked tired, but he greeted Harry courteously.

Sansa ditched her apron as she pulled out dinner from the kitchen.

"Tell me, Harrold, what are your plans for the future?" asked Ned as he sipped on his glass of scotch.

Harry smiled brightly, perfect white teeth wonderfully on display. "For the future, I plan to enter politics or become a businessman."

Ned nodded. "Those are difficult career paths, but they are ambitious. My son, Robb, took over our family business up north in Winterfell. There must always be a Stark in Winterfell."

"The Starks are an institution," agreed Harry.

"Oh, Ned, stop hounding the boy. Are you excited to be going to prom with Sansa? Won't she make a lovely queen?" asked Catelyn, taking a bite out of her salad.

"I haven't been named queen yet, Mom," said Sansa, her face blushing prettily.

Arya wanted to roll her eyes, but, unfortunately, her mother was staring right at her.

"You're better than any of the other candidates. And if they're dim enough not to see that, you'll always be my queen," Harry said as his hand tipped up her chin.

Catelyn and Sansa swooned while Ned, Bran, and Arya all fought the desire to heave. Rickon just played with the peas on his plate.

"What a shame you can't stay in King's Landing any longer. Is there pressing business at the Vale?" asked Catelyn.

"Yes, unfortunately. I have an—obligation to attend to."

"What kind of obligation?" asked Sansa.

"The family sort," Harry muttered.

Catelyn nodded. "A young man committed to his family. That's such an uncommon type these days. Don't you agree, Ned?"

Ned coughed before speaking. "That seems to be the case. Harrold is a cut above most."

Arya collapsed on her bed after dinner was over. She toed off the dingy flats she had on, kicking them down to the floor. The thought of changing out of the ruffled dress occurred to her, but she felt too lazy, and kept it on. Arya's face was buried into her pillows when she heard the sound of her phone ringing from the inside of her backpack. She edged up on her knees, and reached over to pull her backpack towards her.

Hot Pie was calling.

_No shit. He doesn't know what to do on tomorrow's quiz. As always._

She put the phone back on the side of the bed before lying down. The phone rang again.

Arya pulled the phone to her ear, her breath was exasperated. "I'm not in the fucking mood, Hot Pie. Ask Mycah for help."

"No, not Hot Pie. It's Gendry."

Arya's eyes widened. "Hi, Gendry."

"I'm sorry about this afternoon." Gendry did truly sound apologetic, so Arya couldn't think of a mean thing to say back.

"No, I'm sorry. I acted like a total idiot by running away."

"If I hadn't sprung the kiss on you…"

"Well, I suppose I did it first."

"Arya?" His voice sounded even lower than usual.

"Huh?"

"I've been thinking about things, about us. I know I'm older than you—"

"Only two years."

"That's right. Two years. I've been also thinking that I don't have things like a car or much money or amazing grades. And I thought about how you drive me fucking nuts sometimes, you know that? You're a real pain in the ass."

Arya scoffed. "You're not exactly delightful yourself."

"Point is, I still think you're fun, and I like being with you. I think you're clever, too, and you're really pretty. Arya, what I'm trying to say is that I _like_ you. So, I'm just wondering if you thought about me at all like that." His words trailed at the very end.

"You_ like_ me?" she asked, not expecting an answer.

"That's what I said," Gendry murmured.

Arya took a heavy breath, and bit her lip. "Well, I _like_ you too."

* * *

Arya almost felt guilty for lying to her mother. _Almost_.

But she knew her mother would ask question after question about Gendry if she revealed that was who she was going to visit.

Arya wasn't ready to have that conversation just yet. So, Arya lied and said that she was going to walk over to Hot Pie's house. He didn't live that far away, and his mother was known to be completely strict and doted on Hot Pie, no-her precious, sweet Ben. Arya also assumed it would not be prudent to tell her she was visiting someone that lived on the Street of Steel.

After pressing Gendry for what felt like ages, he finally gave her the address to his apartment as she didn't quite remember how they made it there during that one time she went home with him after school. Maybe she shouldn't have spent so much of that trip talking.

However, he didn't know she was planning to visit him this Saturday afternoon.

Arya had to take one bus out of the suburbs, and another that led into his part of the city. She didn't think the Street of Steel was as bad as people liked to say it was, at least not during the daytime. The shops were all rundown, and the apartment complexes were shabby to say the least, but Arya felt perfectly comfortable. She liked the noise and all the people walking about. There was something more exciting, more fitting for her than life in the suburbs.

But the moment Arya reached the apartment complex where Gendry lived; she felt a bundle of nerves in her stomach. Gendry had been softer, nicer since they admitted their feelings for each other, but they hadn't defined what their relationship was. For all she knew, they were still friends. Friends who liked each other in a way that wasn't exactly friendly. Was that normal?

Walking up the stairs felt more daunting than it had been the last time, each step making her feel not only jittery, but bolder as well. Arya knocked on the door as she finished walking up the stairs, and waited for a minute before a shirtless, sweatpants-clad Gendry opened the door.

"Don't look so dumb. Are you going to let me in or what?" she asked, taking in the stunned look on his face.

"I wasn't expecting you, but, yeah, come on in." Gendry stepped to the side and held the door open for Arya.

The space was just as Arya remembered. The sitting area was sparse and gray, and the only furniture she could see was a worn couch, an ancient recliner, a small coffee table, and a stand that supported a television. Right across from the sitting area was a tiny kitchen and a round table with two chairs.

_Might as well make myself at home._

Arya walked over to the couch, and plopped herself on top of it.

"What are you watching?" she asked, watching the program playing on the television screen. Gendry closed the front door, and strode over to sit next to her on the couch.

"Nothing, really. I was only killing time before I go to work in a few hours. My Uncle Tobho is working right now, and I don't know when he'll be home."

Arya stared up at Gendry, a smirk forming on her face. "Is that so?"

He sucked in his cheek. "This is a long way from where you're from. Anyone know you're here?"

Arya shook her head. "No, and they don't need to. I'm old enough to do as I please."

Gendry snorted.

"What? _I am_. I'm already fifteen. I'm not a child," Arya snapped, sitting up straight as she pointed her finger into his shoulder.

"I didn't say you were a child, but you're parents aren't wondering where you are? I find it hard to believe that Eddard Stark is alright with his daughter going into the Street of Steel alone."

"He's not a snob!"

Gendry tilted his head, a doubtful look on his face. "Somehow I can't see your sister around this part of King's Landing."

"Sansa's different," she retorted.

"Yeah, I noticed."

_I wouldn't have come here if I knew he was going to be an idiot._

Impulsively, she kicked one of his shins.

"What was that for?" Gendry asked in annoyance.

"For being stupid," she sneered, her hands moving forward to push his shoulders, but he didn't push back like she expected.

The next minute, before she could understand the situation, Arya was atop Gendry, his hands clasped around her waist, and her hands were resting firmly on his shoulders.

His blue eyes were suddenly very wide and dark. Arya briefly wondered what she must look like to him.

"Gendry, I'm going to stick my tongue in your mouth. Don't be afraid, alright?" Arya whispered, a mischievous grin starting on her face.

Gendry smiled. "No, that'll be you. Try not to run away this time."

As punishment for his response, Arya bit on his lip, hard. Gendry pinched her waist in retaliation. His lips felt chapped and warm as they kissed, and Arya found that she liked it. True to her word, she thrust her tongue into Gendry's mouth. Gendry's tongue rubbed hers in response, and Arya felt the blood in her veins pulsate. His large hands gripped her waist harder. The sensation made Arya moan, and she heard her own breathing become shallower as one of his hands slipped underneath her bulky sweater and t-shirt. She shivered as his rough fingers made circles around her back. Arya's fingers grasped his thick black hair, and she kissed him harder, his beard tickling her face. There was something, she couldn't make out quite what it was in her daze, brushing against her thigh, but she couldn't be bothered to ask about it. Arya gasped as his both of his hands were now under her clothing, tightly holding her shoulder blades.

Then the sound of a turning door knob and door opening filled the apartment.

"Never mind me, I'm only here for my lunch," said the voice of an older man.

Arya quickly jumped off of Gendry, scrambling to the other side of the couch. Gendry sat up straight and readjusted his sweatpants.

"Didn't know you were having guests, Gendry. Could've warned me," said the older man, who was pulling out ingredients from the refrigerator in the kitchen.

Gendry's face was flushed red, his jaw set tightly. "It was a surprise."

The man looked over the counter and declared, "And you haven't even introduced me to the young lady! My name is Tobho, Gendry's uncle, if he ain't told you. You are?"

Arya patted her hair down, and answered, "I'm Arya."

Tobho gave her a crooked smile, but turned his attention to Gendry once again. "Boy, you ain't even wearin' a shirt. What're you thinkin'? Go put one on. You'd think I raised you in a forge."

Though he looked very annoyed, Gendry stood up from the couch, and walked to his room.

Tobho shook his head. "With a tent in his pants, too. In my day, they taught us manners," Gendry laughed darkly from his bedroom, "and don't think I didn't hear that guff, boy! Truly, Arya, I tried to the boy his courtesies, but we can't always get it right, no?"

Arya shook her head, stifling a laugh. Gendry emerged from his bedroom with a t-shirt on. "You satisfied?"

Tobho sat on the recliner with a sandwich in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other. "Delighted. You look _presentable_," Tobho turned to Arya, "I used to be a busboy at a fancy restaurant near the Red Keep in my youth, Lady Arya, so I know the importance of lookin' sharp. I try impartin' this wisdom to dear Gendry, but he's always been a stubborn one."

"What do you do now?" Arya asked, a sudden bout of curiosity overcoming her.

Tobho took a swig from his beer. "I work in weldin'. Hopefully, the boy will think about takin' on the trade if he don't want to go to any of the junior colleges after he graduates."

Gendry finally walked from where he stood at the edge of his bedroom door, and took a seat next to Arya on the couch.

"I don't know if welding or school is for me."

"You better figure out what _is_ for you soon. I s'pose workin' in the restaurant isn't bad. The Heddles ain't so bad, even if they're from the Riverlands. Usually people from those parts think they're too good for us at the Street of Steel. Too bad you got your mother's name, not a Mott like me."

Gendry stayed silent, his attention focused on the television.

"And where are you from, Arya?" Tobho asked.

"Not too far off. My family lives near the Tower of the Hand."

Tobho hooted. "You are far from home, then. Those are rich neighborhoods. What're you doing with a boy like Gendry? Ah, don't say, I know. You must've met him at that school. I thought puttin' him in there instead of one of the schools around here would be good for him, even if it ain't taught him to put a shirt on in company. His mom would've liked the rest of his schoolin', and I'm sure she would've liked you, too, Arya."

Arya couldn't help but grin at those last words. "Yeah, I can't imagine how slow he would've been if he went to another school." she responded, her fingers reaching to stroke Gendry's palm.

* * *

Arya slung her backpack on an end table as she arrived home.

She heard voices coming from the dining room. "Sansa, can you name the castle that was burned during the War of Conquest?" asked a nervous voice she knew belonged to Podrick Payne.

"_Harrenhal._ That's an easy one, Pod," Sansa giggled.

The pair was studying at the dining room table when Arya entered the room.

Sansa stopped giggling as soon as she saw Arya. "Oh, hello, Arya. Where were you all day?"

"At Hot Pie's house. What are you guys studying?" Arya asked as she took a seat at the table.

Pod answered, "We're going over some study guides and test questions for some of our courses. That pile is for English, the other is for Chemistry, and we're doing rounds for history at the moment."

"Being a senior sounds lousy," replied Arya as she kicked up her feet on the table, taking in the sight of all their study materials and textbooks heaped on top of each other.

Sansa took a heavy breath and nodded. "You're so lucky to be a freshman, Arya. Those were the easy days. I only wish these exams weren't so close to prom. Jeyne and I aren't even close to finishing our planning, and prom is on Saturday. Oh, and I have to practice my speech for the candidate speeches on Tuesday. And take your feet off the table. That's disgusting."

Arya ignored that last bit. "Candidate speeches?"

Eyes widening, Sansa said, "Sometimes I forget that you're only a freshman. All the candidates for queen and king have to do a short speech, a minute at the very least, in front of the school during lunch. The event takes place inside the first theatre "

"Do you have a speech?"

"Naturally! I've had it prepared since I was a sophomore," Sansa looked to Pod, "Pod, aren't you helping with the setup?"

He bobbed his head. "Yes, I had to do my part for student body council. The work was largely done by Jeyne Heddle and me, actually."

"Have you received any questions from the other candidates?" Sansa asked.

"A few, but I'm not really at liberty to say. I'm sure you'll do great, Sansa. Everyone I know thinks you'd be fantastic queen. You're perfect, I mean, you'd be perfect for the, uh, job as queen."

Sansa beamed, and Pod flushed. "You really think so?"

"Absolutely," mumbled Pod, his face so red it looked as though he was on fire.

Sansa looked as though was about to say something before her phone started to ring right next to her. She looked down at the screen. "It's a call from Jeyne. I should take this in another room. I'll be back."

As Sansa left the dining room, Arya was left with Pod, his face returning to its normal hue.

Tapping her finger on the dining table, she asked, "Are you ever going to tell her that you like her?"

Pod looked taken aback by the question, and he tugged on his shirt collar. "No, are you crazy? She doesn't feel that way. It'll only embarrass me, and our friendship will be awkward afterwards."

"How do you know? Maybe she does like you? I see her giggling and smiling at you like an idiot."

"That's Sansa. She's polite to everyone."

"She acts polite, not like a smitten idiot."

Pod shook his head. "It doesn't matter if she did even kind of like me because she has that boyfriend."

"Why? They're not engaged."

His eyebrows furrowed. "No, that's not right. If Sansa is happy with Harry, then I won't get in the way. Not that I had a chance…"

Sansa burst into the room, her phone clutched to her chest. "Wonderful news! Jeyne's dad was able to get us the limo we wanted. So, I was thinking that you two could come along with us. Of course, I'm going with Harry, and Jeyne is coming with her boyfriend, Theon."

"Theon Greyjoy? Robb's Theon?" Arya spat out.

A repulsed look came upon Sansa's features. "Yes, Robb's friend, Theon. He transferred to university in King's Landing, and he met Jeyne at this party. She's been keeping it a secret for ages, but I got it out of her. Don't tell her I told you that. Prom is supposed to be the big reveal."

Arya smirked. "_Never_. They sound like a perfect match, to be honest. The both of them are complete assholes."

"Arya!"

* * *

Mycah groaned as Arya pushed him inside of the theater. "Do we really have to be here?"

Arya rolled her eyes. "Yes. Now, come on."

The two walked out the entrance, and took a pair of empty seats in the back. The theater wasn't very full, but a decent showing of attendees appeared.

As Arya scanned the room, she saw Jeyne Poole's eyes directed at her, she was gesturing at Arya to come over to where she sat up near the front.

"I'll be back. Someone is calling me," Arya sighed.

She moved down the steps until she was at the aisle where Jeyne sat.

"Sit," Jeyne said, patting the seat next to her.

"Uh, I have a friend waiting for me."

Jeyne clicked her tongue against her teeth. "I'm aware. Leave him up there, and sit with me."

"Why?"

"Because it would mean a lot to Sansa if she saw us sitting together in support. Sit." Jeyne nodded at the seat.

_Always Sansa._

Arya sat down. "Can I ask my friend to sit with us?"

Jeyne blinked, and said matter-of-factly, "No, he's a ginger and he looks like he hasn't bathed in weeks."

"Sansa has red hair," Arya pointed out.

"More auburn than_ ginger_."

Before Arya could reply, a figure walked up to the microphone on stage's far right. The figure was Jeyne Heddle dressed in a dress shirt, skirt, and a pair of shiny, black heels.

The audience hushed as she tapped the microphone and began to speak.

"Greetings, classmates. I'm Jeyne Heddle, senior member of the student body council, and I will be hosting this year's prom candidate speeches. We hope these speeches will be informative of each candidate's qualifications to uphold these honorable, celebrated titles that have been passed down for over one hundred years of King's Landing High's history. The order has been determined by a random drawing of the candidates for king and queen. Without further ado, the curtains will be drawn back to reveal the candidates."

The curtains pulled back and revealed the candidates sitting on folded chairs, all smiling brightly and well-dressed for the occasion.

"First up, we have Robert Arryn," Jeyne Heddle announced.

Robert Arryn, a prim, tall, wiry boy with brown hair, stood up from his seat, and took the microphone down center stage.

"Hi, everyone. My name is Robert Arryn, or Sweetrobin, as many of you know. I'm a senior and I think I should be voted as king because of my commitment to the school since I transferred from the Vale. I have championed many bake sales for the school's student body council, lemoncakes are our specialty, and I've pushed for harsher measures against bad students. Basically, I've worked to keep this school safe, and I've provided ways for our student body to bring in revenue. That's why I should be voted as king."

Arya made a face, and turned to see a look of displeasure on Jeyne's face. "Is he fucking serious?" Arya mumbled.

Jeyne clapped with the rest of the audience as Robert took his seat. "The selection for king is always piss-poor."

"That was a…an illuminating speech, Robert, thank you. The next candidate up is Margaery Tyrell."

Margaery, dressed in a sparkly green shift, smiled sweetly, and pushed her long brown hair back as she stepped to the microphone.

"Ugh, she's such a bitter snake. I can't believe she's doing this. Just because of what happened during summer," Jeyne muttered.

"What happened?" Arya asked quietly.

"None of your business, I wasn't talking to you. Hush."

"Hello, I hope everyone is having a lovely time. My name is Margaery Tyrell, and it is simply an honor to be here in front of my peers, asking to be voted as queen. This is so true considering there are three candidates who are undeniably worthy of the title, and good, good friends of mine. However, I would like to remind voters that I have spent four years reaching out to help the needy, getting my community involved in helping areas like Flea Bottom. In addition to those extracurriculars, I've also been interning at the state offices, and I am a champion horse rider to boot. All of this has been accomplished while maintaining a 3.7 grade average. While I do this for the greater good, and not my own benefit, I hope that voters would take these accomplishments into thought when they are vote for queen. A prom queen reflects the student body as a whole for that year, and I believe I've done my best in that respect. Thank you for your consideration."

The audience clapped loudly and cheered as Margaery pranced back to her seat.

Jeyne Heddle signaled down the clapping. "That was a great speech, Margaery, thank you. Our next candidate is Edric Storm."

Edric Storm, an attractive, tall, well-dressed, boy with dark hair that Arya thought had a striking resemblance to Gendry took the stage.

_But his hair is shorter, he doesn't have a beard, and his ears are fucking goofy._

"Thanks for the introduction, Jeyne. Obviously, I'm Edric Storm. Why should I be nominated as king? I should be nominated because I've taken King's Landing High's football team to regionals two years in a row. I've represented my class with hard work, determination, and conviction. Also, my dad is the governor, so think about that at the polls. I'm just joking, don't worry. That's all for now. Thanks for listening."

Jeyne Poole rolled her eyes as she clapped her hands. "He always has to mention that his father is Robert Baratheon. Like everyone doesn't know he's product of a cheating scandal. Myrcella is only right there," she whispered in Arya's ear.

"Wasn't that entertaining? The next candidate is Daenerys Targaryen," called out Jeyne Heddle.

Daenerys Targaryen was probably the comeliest person Arya had ever seen. She gently strode towards the microphone, her hair in a long silver braid that swung behind her.

Daenerys' friends, Arya recognized Irri and Jhiqui, cheered from the audience. "Hello. I am Daenerys Targaryen of House Targaryen. I know I have been absent from this school for a couple of years."

Jeyne leaned into Arya's ear. "They say she was in motorcycle gang with some thirty-year-old boyfriend."

Suddenly, Daenerys' voice took on an ominous tone. "But I have returned to King's Landing High for my senior year to reconnect with old friends, to come back home, and, most importantly, to take what is mine. The honor of prom queen and king has been bestowed upon my family members for generations. I intend to uphold the tradition. Vote for me."

Daenerys' friends cheered as the rest of the audience gave a nervous clap.

"Too bad her brothers failed," Jeyne murmured.

Jeyne Heddle tapped on the microphone once again. "The next candidate up is Trystane Martell."

Trystane was tall, handsome, with dark hair and olive skin. He looked very sharp as he strutted towards the microphone.

"First off, I wanted to say that I'd look to do something different for my speech. In fact, I thought I'd ask my girlfriend, Myrcella, to come up with me." Trystane turned to Myrcella, who stood up graciously, and skipped towards him, her golden hair bouncing.

She smiled as she snatched the microphone from him. "Sorry, but we thought that we would do something a little different this year, and run as a ticket. If you vote for Trystane Martell, you should vote for Myrcella Baratheon, and vice versa. We should be voted as king and queen because, frankly, we deserve the honors and we've done our best to get to know most of our peers over the past four years. Besides, we're already a couple. Maybe we don't have any extracurricular activities to our names, but it's the thought that counts. Vote Myrcella and Trystane!"

The audience cheered loudly, but Arya saw Jeyne Poole roll her eyes.

Jeyne Heddle began to speak as the audience died down. "How_ convincing_. Now we will hear from Sansa Stark."

Sansa looked very elegant and proper as she strolled up the stage. "Thank you all for nominating me. As Margaery already stated, it's an honor just to be nominated, truthfully. Why should I be queen? Because being queen is more than a title, a crown, or a picture in the newspaper. Being queen means that you'll be able to lead other students as an example. If I were queen, I'd want to be a role model, and I'd work hard to make sure that my peers are not sorry that I was the queen they chose. Hopefully, my classmates know me as a kind person who tries to be thoughtful and helpful, and I've done my best to maintain scholarship that is worthy of King's Landing High's great standards. Once again, I've already been honored by the nomination, but I would love for you all to keep Sansa Stark in mind when it is time to vote."

Arya pulled Jeyne up by the wrist as Sansa walked back to her seat. She clapped harder than anyone else, and Jeyne followed Arya's lead. Sansa smiled as she saw the two of them.

The next candidate up was, Devan Seaworth, an intern for Stannis Baratheon, but no one paid too much attention to his dry speech.

"No," Gendry answered bluntly.

Arya was sitting on the couch of her living room. Sansa and Jeyne had rushed home for some reason they didn't bother to explain, and Arya didn't have time to see Gendry before she left school. The pair ran upstairs without another to Arya after they arrived home.

"Why not?" Arya asked with her phone propped on her shoulder.

Gendry sighed. "Because we made commitments. You shouldn't break your promises."

"But I'd rather just go with you."

"I'd like to go with you, too, but I already made a promise to go with Jeyne. It would be wrong to ditch her."

Arya rolled her eyes. "Why do you always have to be so honorable? That's dumb."

"Yeah, well, that's-"

A startled shriek suddenly burst through the house. Arya shot up from her seat. The shriek sounded as though it had come from upstairs.

"I heard a scream."

"From who?" Gendry asked.

"I think it came from Sansa. Let me go see. I'll call you back later."

"Alright. Bye, Arya."

Arya didn't reply and ended the call, shoved the phone in her jacket pocket, and rushed upstairs.

Without bothering to knock, Arya entered Sansa's room. The bedroom was Sansa completely. Everything was blue and white, meticulous, soft, and pretty. Sansa was sitting on her bed, head buried in Jeyne's shoulder.

"What's wrong?"

Jeyne sighed and pointed at the laptop at the center of the bed. Arya walked over, and took the laptop in her hands. The screen showed a webpage that displayed a message sent to Sansa.

Arya's eyes widened as she scanned the contents.

"Harry has a baby?" Arya gasped.

Jeyne's nod was confirmation.

"That dick!"

Sansa took her head off of Jeyne's shoulder. Her eyes were bloodshot and glassy. "This is awful. I mean, we weren't seeing each other when this happened, but this girl said she got pregnant in August. That's when Harry and I were on a break. Why wouldn't he say anything?"

"Maybe he was afraid, and you've been so excited about prom," said Jeyne, patting Sansa's shoulder.

Arya sat on the bed, and awkwardly palmed Sansa's hand. "I thought he looked like a rat. No better than that psycho, Joffrey."

Sansa shook he head. "No, he's not that bad. I only wish he had said something before the baby's mother did. First she sent me a text, and then she sent me a link. And the pictures of the baby girl look exactly like Harrold. Still, I can't fault him for seeing someone else while we were on a break from each other. It's not as though I was a septa."

"Has he called you?" Arya asked.

Jeyne sighed. "_Please_, it was ringing every second before I put it on silent."

"What are you going to do now? For prom, that is."

Sansa pulled a lock of her hair behind h er ear, and clutched one of her stuffed animals that rested on her bed's pillows. "I told him that I couldn't go with him. I don't want to be upset because that day is too important. No, I'll go stag as they say. I don't need a date to be a queen or to enjoy myself."

Arya nodded in agreement. "That's a good attitude. I'd probably go find Harry and cut his balls off if I were you."

Sansa smiled at that. "You would, wouldn't you? Times like these, I wish I was as willful as you are."

"_Oh gods_, don't get her thinking that's a good quality," Jeyne groaned.

* * *

author's note: thanks for reading. any feedback like reviews are welcomed and appreciated. i like to see what the people think. :)


	2. Prom, Part 1

Arya felt like a prom store mannequin by the time she was ready. Her hair was curled, her makeup was done, she smelled like cotton candy, and her feet were tucked inside a painful pair of silver high heels. But-she looked good, she looked like a girl. Arya found herself wondering what Gendry would think of her outfit, and then promptly scolded herself for having such a Sansa-like thought.

Given that it was her day, as she liked to repeat, Sansa had forced everyone to spend the entire day getting ready for the prom, and Arya couldn't wait for everything to be over.

Their parents were even going as chaperones, much to Arya's sudden mortification. She had let that little detail slip by if someone had told her beforehand, and she was a little glad that Gendry had stayed firm in his decision to be Jeyne Heddle's date.

_Ugh, Jeyne Heddle._

Arya was sitting with Pod on the living room couch as everyone waited for Sansa to finally come down from her room. Pod had even given Arya a gray corsage, but she thought he might've liked to give one to another Stark instead. Yet, Pod seemed to be in better spirits than he had since she'd met him. He must've known that Sansa was going to be single tonight. There may have been no one more happy to hear of Harrold Hardying's secret baby than Podrick Payne.

"Sansa! Hurry up! We're already to go!" Arya shouted, deeply annoyed at the heels pinching her toes.

"Alright, I'm going down stairs already!" She had yelled out this same statement about five times in the past hour.

More than anxious to leave, the party stood up anyhow and waited for Sansa to arrive downstairs. In true Sansa fashion, she seemed to be floating down the stairs in a purple large gown of Myrish lace that appeared to have birds in the patterns. She adjusted her hairnet and her clutch as she finally took the last step.

Their mother beamed and their father went to kiss her on the head.

"You look beautiful, Sansa," Ned said as he hugged her.

"Thanks, Dad."

Arya looked over at a dumbfounded Podrick. She wasn't sure if he'd suddenly lost his ability to breathe through his nose or what, but she elbowed him anyway.

His face snapped back to normal at the sharp hit to his bicep.

Not wishing to wait any longer or take unnecessary, embarrassing pre-prom photos, Arya swung her coat over her shoulders and hurried towards the door. "Well, let's get a move on. I'm ready to get back to life before prom was even a thing."

* * *

The hotel's large ballroom was rather fancy in her opinion. She'd been to loads of high end hotels, but she didn't have much hope for the school's prom committee. The Winter Wonderland was still going strong, but it didn't seem so bad once she was there. Among the decorations were fake snow, sparkly blue and white silks, _ice sculptures, _elegant furniture, and beautiful blue roses at any corner. But the most impressive part of this affair was the striking, large, round dance floor that stood before two large winter thrones for the king and queen of the night. For the first time, Arya could actually understand why someone would want to be king or queen so badly. Maybe that was something that only made sense while you were at prom, though. There was a vibrant energy at this event, and Arya wondered if she had judged the event too harshly. Seniors and juniors packed the ballroom with laughter and talking. Arya wondered if Gendry was here already. She tried to look up at the groups of people for a tall dark haired boy, but she couldn't see him anywhere.

While Arya was taking in the surroundings, she also followed Sansa and Podrick as they hurried along to a long table where Sansa's other friends were seated.

Jeyne was sitting by herself, and not with Theon, but she looked angry. Pretty- but angry. When she saw Sansa, she took a deep sigh of relief.

"I thought you'd never come. You're so late, already. They're going to be starting out dancing soon as soon as the idiot DJ gets his shit together."

"Sorry, it took me forever to get ready. My hairdresser, Randa, took ages to get the curls just right. She says I have such delicate hair."

Arya snorted. "She didn't take that long with me."

Sansa rolled her eyes. "That's because you have Stark hair, not Tully hair."

Jeyne waived her hand at the both of them. "Well, sit. There are seats waiting for you three, and, um, some drinks, too."

The three took their seats, but Arya couldn't sit still. She kept searching out for Gendry at the corner of her eyes. Apart of her wanted to just call him and ask, but she didn't want to seem like she was jealous of the fact that he was here with Jeyne Heddle. She absolutely wasn't jealous. Not at all.

"Who are you looking for?" Sansa asked.

Arya turned her head. "No one."

Sansa moved back to look at Jeyne. "Where's Theon?"

Jeyne took a deep sip from her glass of what appeared to be water. "He's an absolute dickhead. He took off to go see that this singer named Abel with all his friends. Some horseshit like that. I don't even want to talk about it because I'm not going to let this ruin my night. I'm an independent woman, and also Beric has been hitting on me for ages. Granted, he was far cuter before he started smoking, but desperate times call for desperate measures."

Arya wondered what could possibly be in Jeyne's drinking water to make her act like such a fool.

Then the lights went low and music began to blare across the ballroom.

"Gods, yes! Prom can't be prom if there's no dancing," exclaimed Jeyne as she pulled up Sansa to go towards the dance floor. Arya saw them follow some other girls, she recognized Shae and Mya. There were other people already dancing. Of course, that wasn't a surprise, but the fact that Gendry and Jeyne Heddle were dancing was. Gendry looked handsome in a dress shirt and trousers, and she noticed that even his mop of hair had been slicked back for the occasion. Infuriatingly, Jeyne Heddle looked quite pretty in her simple white dress. The two of them were laughing and moving around, not caring in the slightest that they had absolutely no rhythm. Arya wanted to vomit at the sight.

"Do you want to dance?" Pod asked as he fiddled with a drink in front of him.

Arya shook her head, feeling sick. "Not really. Do you?"

Podrick didn't look much better. "No, I'm not much of a dancer."

"I used to dance, but not like this. It was harder. You've heard of water dancing?"

Sniffing at his drink, Pod pulled a face before answering her question. "A little. You know, I think Jeyne may have spiked these drinks with some alcohol."

"Really? Can I see?"

"Sure, except…"

Arya grabbed the drink from his hand, and she swigged it down. She had been expecting to feel something different, but she hadn't expected the sensation she got. The only drinks she had ever had before were wine at dinner during special occasions or the cheap beers that Mycah managed to get his older cousins to buy for them.

"Are you alright?" Podrick asked.

"Never better. I'll be back. Don't get too rowdy while I'm gone. Can't have my date embarrassing me, now," warned Arya, standing up from her chair.

She was going to dance. But first she had to find a boy, and preferably a boy who wasn't Podrick Payne. Scanning the room, Arya spotted a side of the ballroom where a bunch of single guys were laughing. She decided to aim for the cutest one as she approached the group, a lanky boy with dyed blue hair who was dressed in a black and red suit that had to be ironic.

A tap on the shoulder was all it took to catch his attention. "Hi, I'm Arya," Arya said as nonchalantly as she could.

"Hello…I'm Aegon," the boy named Aegon looked surprised, but not displeased to make her acquaintance.

Arya nodded her head. "Great. Do you want to dance?"

His eyes rounded at the bluntness."Yeah, great."

Arya didn't need to hear much else from this tool. All she needed was someone to, well; she didn't know what she was trying to do, exactly. She bit her lip as she realized she was trying to make Gendry jealous, but maybe he had been unsure about her. A wave of doubt flooded her mind as she thought about where she stood with Gendry. Maybe he really liked Jeyne Heddle instead. He should've wanted to be her date, not Jeyne's. Well, it didn't matter to her. He was just a stupid bull, and she was a Stark, a direwolf. And direwolves don't fight with wooden teeth.

The dance floor was chaotic and crowded by the time Aegon and she got there. Rather than try to make useless small talk, Arya grabbed his hand and put them around her waist while she wrapped her hands around his neck. The Old Gods must have been watching because a slow song came on. Arya didn't know how she'd be able to go along with some grinding with a guy she just met.

"I don't think I've seen you around before," said Aegon.

"Oh, well, I'm a freshman," Arya said, suddenly feeling sheepish.

He looked surprised again. "Oh. That makes sense. I think I'd remember someone as pretty as you."

Unbidden, Arya blushed at his comment.

"Thanks. I'd remember someone with blue hair, I think."

Aegon smiled a handsome smile. His teeth were ridiculously white.

"It's a Tyroshi thing. So, how did you get into prom if you're only a freshman?"

"My friend needed a date, and also my sister is Sansa Stark so we're here to support her."

His blue eyebrows rose on his forehead. "A Stark?"

* * *

For a second, Gendry couldn't believe his eyes. Arya couldn't have been dancing with that asshole, Aegon. He didn't understand. Arya was supposed to be here with Pod, not Aegon fucking Griff.

Jeyne must've sensed there was something wrong because she squeezed his shoulders as they slow danced. "Is there something wrong?"

"What? No, it's just this song is so sappy. I wish they'd play something other than Tom O'Sevens."

Jeyne laughed. "What you don't like 'My Forest Lass'?"

"I'd rather listen to 'The Rains of Castamere' right now."

"I'm afraid that's where we'll differ because I'm more of a 'The Bear and the Maiden Fair' type of girl."

He wasn't going to ruin Jeyne's night with this bullshit. If Arya wanted to dance with some pretentious, immature douche, then good for her because that didn't matter to him. He had Jeyne in front of him. Jeyne was smart, cool, trustworthy, and she even looked pretty tonight.

But Arya looked gorgeous. Her hair looked soft and curly and she wore this tight silver dress. It was unusual to see Arya in an outfit that didn't have layer or two over. Gendry could see her shapely figure just fine from where he stood, and the sight of Aegon's hands on her tiny waist made him seethe with jealousy.

Still, rather than going over and punching Aegon Griff in his stupid smirk like he wanted, he held Jeyne closer and moved faster when a fast song came on.

* * *

a/n: feedback is welcome. thanks for reading.


	3. Prom, Part 2

Arya and Aegon had been dancing for the better part of an hour before Arya decided she needed to sit out for a little while. She was almost getting comfortable until she heard some movement directly behind her.

"Jeyne's sick!" Sansa whispered in Arya's ear as she sat down with Aegon at the table. The girl was slung over on Sansa's side looking faintly green and drowsy.

"And that's not my problem," Arya whispered back.

Sansa rolled her eyes, "Okay, well, I need your help. Please, take her to the restroom or else she's going to heave all over this prom."

"What? No, you do it. I'm not going to hold her hair. She's _your friend,_ not mine."

An incredulous look came upon Sansa's face. "Are you _serious_? I have to socialize before they make the announcement in like half an hour. Don't be a bitch."

Arya's eyes rounded. "No, you are not calling me a bitch right now. She doesn't even like me, why would she even want me to hold her hair for her?"

"She won't want you to do any of that, but going into the restrooms would ruin my whole look," Sansa said as she waved herself from head to toe.

"Are you on a crack? This restroom isn't a porter potty at the state carnival; this is a pretty nice hotel."

At that, Jeyne began to shift; her breathing was becoming more pronounced. Sansa pushed her off her shoulder and sat her down next to Arya.

"Oh my gods, no. She's making those noises people make before they vomit. Okay, take her, I'll see you later. Bye!"

Before Arya could give a reply, Sansa floated off towards the dance floor.

"_Bitch_," Arya muttered as sickly Jeyne swayed in her seat.

"What was all that?" Aegon asked her. She had nearly forgotten him.

"Oh, just my sister being her typical self. Um, Aegon this is Jeyne, Jeyne this is Aegon," said Arya, motioning her hand between them.

Jeyne just grunted.

"What's wrong with her?"

Arya shook her head. "I don't even know. She must've had something bad to eat-or drink, rather. Look, not to be a rude dance partner, but I need to take her to the restroom before she ends up vomiting all over the ballroom."

Jeyne wasn't as heavy as Arya thought she would have been, but dragging her across the ballroom without making a scene was a practice in stealth that would have made Syrio Forel proud.

_I swear to the old gods if she hurls on me, I'm going to make Sansa wear this stupid dress for a week. Unwashed._

The spotless marble restroom was filled with girls. Some were just touching up their makeup and others were in the same state as Jeyne, either slumped up against the wall or leaning over toilets.

"What the fuck? Is everyone getting sick?"

A tall redhead answered. "A lot of them snuck in some cheap drinks that they bought from Pycelle, and now they're all acting as if they got the pale mare."

"Is there another one?" Jeyne Heddle asked as she walked out of one of the stalls.

"Yeah, this girl drooping on my shoulder. Do you think she has whatever they have?"

Jeyne Heddle walked towards them and looked into Jeyne Poole's face, checking parts of her that Arya would never have come to Arya's mind.

"Yep, she's sick as the rest of them. Give her to me," Jeyne Heddle grabbed Jeyne Poole from Arya's shoulder, and dragged her to an empty bathroom stall.

Without thinking, Arya followed them. "Are you sure she'll be fine?"

Jeyne Heddle pulled Jeyne Poole's hair back as she positioned her over the toilet.

"Yes, she'll be fine. They all have some sort of alcohol poisoning. I don't know where the fuck Pycelle got this from, but it's doing a number on lots of the people here. There are guys puking in their restrooms, too. I'd take them to a nurse, but then the student body council will be blamed for the fact that people like say, Jeyne Poole, sneak in alcohol. We don't need help with administration for this. Things are looking bad enough Robert Arryn's mother already came to drag him home. I thought she'd have a heart attack."

Arya grimaced as Jeyne Poole finally began to chuck into the toilet.

"Okay. Thanks, then," Arya muttered as she turned to leave before Jeyne Heddle's voice called out to her.

"No problem. Wait, you should know that Gendry's sitting with those losers, Beric and Thoros and Bella. You'd better get over there before Bella starts trying to rub her hand over Gendry's thigh. Don't think I'm just being jealous on that one. Something about them together that is disgusting. It's unexplainable. They look like siblings. Look, I don't really like you that much, but you're preferable to Bella, trust me. So, go, give that sad bastard a date. I'm tired of always cleaning up his messes."

Arya didn't know what to say. She thought Jeyne Heddle hated her. "Um, that's good to know. Thanks for taking care of her."

"That's what I do as a representative for my student body. Now go away before_ I_ have to vomit from this heartwarming interaction."

The ballroom was still packed as Arya scanned the room for Gendry or one of his motley crew of friends, but it didn't take long for Arya to spot two fools sitting at a table on the far left of the ballroom, one of the guys in suit that was faded pink and the other in a suit with stars embroidered all over. Thoros and Beric. But she couldn't see Gendry at the table.

_Calm as still water…_

Nevertheless, Arya walked over to the table. They must have seen were he last went.

"Dude, remember when I passed the fuck out?" Beric puffed out.

"You're going to have to be more specific, Dondarrion," Thoros said with a laugh.

"Hey, do you guys know where Gendry went?" asked Arya.

"And what's it to you?" said a busty, dark haired girl next to Thoros. Arya assumed this was Bella, and Arya had to admit Jeyne was right about the whole creepy sibling look.

"I need to find him."

Beric took a swig from a little flask in his suit jacket. "Arya, remember that one time I got into that fistfight with Sandor Clegane. You were there, weren't you? It was in that cave shit. I thought Gendry was going to have a heart attack, ha."

Arya rolled her eyes. "I remember he knocked you out cold."

Beric looked like he was about to say something before Thoros interrupted. "Alright, what do you need from Gendry?"

"That's none of your business, Thoros."

"Wrong. You see, we're like a _brotherhood_. We all look out for each other."

"So, what, like a brotherhood of cockblocking douchebags? Just tell me where he is."

"You have to promise us one thing before we tell you where he went."

"Fine, what?"

"Don't dance with that asshole, Aegon. He thinks he's so cool because he lives on a houseboat and because he had blue hair and lived in Essos, but he's not the real deal."

Arya could feel the anger and annoyance flaring up inside her. "It's none of your business who I dance with, Thoros."

"Nah, I guess not, but it matters to Gendry. He was right here moping like a little bitch as soon as Jeyne went to go help all those sick people. Bella tried cheering her up, but he turned even worse-"

"I think he might be gay or something," interjected Bella.

"He's not gay."

"Then why does he avoid staring at my cleavage? Something funny is going on there."

"No, he just doesn't like you because you're creepy."

Bella gave an exaggerated sigh. "Don't be jealous. Half the guys in this room have thought I was plenty…_uncreepy_."

"I'm not jealous of you."

"Oh, please. Wait a minute, aren't you Sansa's sister? You're Ned Stark's kid, then. That explains everything. Highborns like you always have a stick up their butts. At least I'm only Robert Baratheon's bastard."

"Shut up. And don't talk about my family ever. In fact, the three of you can all go to hell for all I care. I'm not swearing shit to your _brotherhood_."

Arya ignored their insults as she stomped off. She didn't need their help. Seven hells, they were stoned most of the time. They probably would have pointed her towards a cactus and said it was Gendry. She would just have to find him on her own.

* * *

"So I'm dancing with my friend, Jeyne, and suddenly I see Arya dancing with that _asshole_, Aegon," growled out Gendry as he drank another one of the drinks on the table. He wasn't even slightly surprised that the glasses of water were filled with alcohol. HIghborns were always pulling stunts like that at KL High.

_Highborns. _Gendry shook his head. Pod hadn't really piped up with anything to say, but Gendry continued to lament to the shy boy.

"Like what the fuck? First she kissed me and then I kissed her back. Then I thought she was going out with you-"

"Me?" asked Podrick, his eyes round with surprise.

"Yeah, you. But she told me she wasn't so I believed her. So we kissed in the park and everything was good. Fuck, she even came to my house after school. Now, we didn't get to do much because my uncle came home, but _fuck_."

"That much?"

Gendry's eyes narrowed. "Hey, don't go spreading shit around or I'll fuck you up. We just kissed."

"I-I w-wasn't going to tell anyone anything."

Gendry nodded his head and took another sip from his drink. "Right. You're a good guy, Podrick. That's why I didn't mind Arya coming here as your date. I know you're not trying to date her or do anything else with her that I'd try. But I don't know about Aegon. I don't know about him or that one fucking Elmer Frey who was half in love with her or that stupid fucking Ned Dayne who still makes eyes at her."

"Ned Dayne seems nice to me."

Gendry scoffed. "_Nice?_ Fuck that. It's all an act. He's like Beric's girlfriend's cousin, so he hangs around our brotherhood sometimes. Ned Dayne is just a highborn, little blond lordling fuckface who makes up shit like saying he dated Arya. But she told me she had never had a boyfriend before, at least not a proper one. So the only thing I can come up with is that he's lying."

"When did he tell you that?"

"He told me yesterday when we were all Beric's house. I almost threw the punk in a trash can nearby."

"Why didn't you?"

"Because fucking highborns get to set the rules. Are you highborn?"

"No, not really. My name has a house, but I was passed around from family to family until I met Lady Brienne."

"I'm sorry, man, I was in a foster home for a while until my uncle got his act together."

"Gendry."

Buzzed as he was, Gendry still recognized the voice. His head turned to see Arya standing right in back of him.

_She looks pretty and pissed off. What's she pissed off for? She's the one who was dancing with some fucking blue haired loser. She even ditched Pod. _

"Hey, Arya. Where's that guy you were dancing with?"

Arya shook her head, the curls bouncing in a way that momentarily mesmerized Gendry. "I don't know."

But his anger flared up again at her response. "Really? Seems like you two were awfully close."

"It was just a few dances."

_A few dances? She must think I'm an actual idiot. _

"It was an hour, maybe two."

Suddenly, Arya's pretty face looked worried. "Have you been drinking from those glasses?"

"No," he lied.

"_First_, that's disgusting. _Second_, there's bad alcohol in there."

"Well, fuck me," Gendry said as he slammed the glass down.

Arya tried to pull on his arm. "Come on, we'll take you to Jeyne."

Gendry pulled back. "No, I'm not going with Jeyne. I'm staying here with my new friend, Pod."

"I think you should go, Gendry."

"Nah, I'm alright."

"Gendry, come. Don't be stubborn."

_I've had about enough of her toying me around. _

"Stop. I don't want to go. Don't baby me. I'm not one of your brothers."

"You could never be one of my brothers."

"Of course, not. _Fucking highborns_. Sorry for suggesting that I could ever be your kin," he snapped out.

"That's not what I meant," Arya pleaded.

"I don't care. Go away. You're spoiling my drinks."

"Fine," she snapped.

Gendry mimed her with his own "_Fine_."

* * *

Arya wanted nothing to more than to go back and kick him in the balls. He was the most infuriating person alive. All she wanted to do was help him, to be with him. Something always got in the way. Arya cursed him and their bad luck as she tried to find someone, anyone. But the whole ballroom was full of upperclassmen she didn't know. Arya felt alone and sad. She wanted to weep, but she wouldn't weep for anyone here. Not even stupid Gendry.

"Arya!"

The voiced belonged to her father. Arya turned to see her father walking towards her. It seemed as though he had just finished talking to Mr. Seaworth from what Arya could see.

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know," Arya muttered, biting her lips and avoiding eye contact with her father. He would know she was upset. He always knew.

His palm moved up to feel her forehead. "Are you not feeling well? I think your mother just escorted a girl to the nurse. A bug is going around,"

Arya shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Well, maybe I feel a little sick, but that's not what's wrong,"

"Then what's wrong, sweet girl? You can tell your old man," Ned said as he pulled Arya into one of his hugs.

"No, I can't," she muttered.

"Sansa isn't pregnant, is she?"

"What? No."

"Just checking."

"What about you?"

"_No_," Arya squealed.

Ned laughed. "I'm just joking. I can do that, too."

"Yeah, and one day winter will actually come."

Her father gave her another squeeze before the sound of a microphone turning on blasted through the ballroom. The pair turned around to see a bald man on stage. Professor Varys.

Professor Varys tapped the microphone. "Is the mic working? Yes, yes, it is! Hello, prom goers. We all know this as a night to remember. For some students, this is one of the many steps to climb before reaching senior year, and for others, this is the last stop before graduation. Many of us are heroes of our own stories, but prom night may only have one king and one queen. Each year, two students are chosen by their peers. These titles do not just last a night, but rather a lifetime. To be king and queen of King's Landing is an honor. So, to cut my speech short and get to the real reason anyone is even listening to me prattle on, I will announce the two winners."

The man pulled out one envelope from his blazer. "King Landing's Prom Queen of 2013 is…Daenerys Targaryen!"

A cheer erupted from the crowd as Daenerys strolled towards the Winter Throne, her silvery blond hair flying behind her. She didn't smile or thank the announcer like most winners. Instead, she sat upon her throne, high and noble, with her dark gown sparkling with red crystals. But before the announcer could open the second envelope, Daenerys summoned him to bring the microphone over to her.

Still, seated upon her throne, Daenerys began her speech, "I took what was mine, but no one should despair. This isn't the game of thrones. You don't win or die."

Suddenly, Arya remembered she had been invited to Daenerys' after party.

The Prom King was revealed to be Robert Arryn, but he couldn't accept his seat considering his mother had dragged him home.

* * *

a/n: feedback is welcome and appreciated. thanks for reading :)


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